Who is the truth that God expresses meant to be given to so that it may become their lives? Who is the truth being fellowshipped on for? (It is those who love the truth and can accept the truth.) Who are those who can really love the truth and accept the truth in their hearts? If you can see through this question, you will know what kind of person is saved by God. First, we must understand that the truth God expresses is meant for those who possess humanity, reason, love for positive things, and the awareness of their consciences. Other people do not love the truth, and after hearing it, they are indifferent and remain unmoved, without reproaching themselves or feeling anything at all—they are dead though they live, and are destined to have no life entry. Some people will ask, “Why does God go through so much trouble to say so many words when most people don’t love the truth, or possess good humanity, or accept the truth, and they are not the objects of salvation, and are instead just service-doers?” Is this right? (No. Though most people are not willing to pursue the truth, a small group are still willing to pursue it and they have some humanity, and it is this small group that God wants to save.) That’s right. God’s words are for the ears of people, not beasts or devils. Within the church, regardless of whether a third or a fifth of the people can accept the truth, in any case, the ones who will remain in the end are the minority. So how should we measure who is a sincere believer in God, and who can remain? We can measure if a person has a conscience, whether their conscience has some awareness through listening to God’s words, whether they can understand the word of God, whether they can understand the truth through listening to sermons, and put it into practice once they’ve understood it, and whether they can change their corrupt dispositions. Based on these things, we can discern if they are people who accept the truth and God’s sheep. God’s sheep are able to listen to God’s voice, they respond and have awareness after listening to His voice, and they are willing to follow God. These people are God’s sheep. What do these people possess in their humanity? (These people like positive things, are willing to pursue the truth, and have some conscience.) Why are they willing to pursue the truth? Their humanity includes love for the truth, conscience, and reason. They can also understand God’s words and apply them to their own states, then turn God’s words into part of their day-to-days, into their lives, and into the goal, principle, and foundation of their behavior and how they conduct themselves. That is, God’s words become the reality of their lives, and they are able to practice God’s words. These people are God’s sheep. There are some people who do not look bad on the outside and are quite guileless, but they are not able to put God’s words into practice after listening to them. These people are not God’s sheep. There are many such people among laborers who do not understand God’s words no matter how they listen to them, and are even less able to put God’s words into practice. They can believe in God for years without gaining life. Therefore, people should understand who exactly can be saved by the words of God. When it comes to the people that God saves, it doesn’t matter how many of them there are. Even if just one person can understand God’s words, He will still do the work that should be done. As is well-known, only eight people were saved when Noah built the ark. From the times of the Old Testament to the present, few have been saved. In the Age of Law when God had not formally done the work of salvation nor provided mankind with the truth, how many were accepted by God? Were there many? There were very few people who gained His approval during that time. What about the work of the last days? Though the number of people who can accept the truth through judgment, chastisement, trials, and refinement is in the minority, this number is still larger than those gained by God in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. Now, there are quite a few people who can offer experiential testimony and there are indeed some who have changed their dispositions, so how could God’s heart not have gained some comfort from this?

When you see that most people in the church have believed in God for several years yet do not pursue the truth, have not changed at all, and are still like nonbelievers, are you negative? (Sometimes I’m a little negative, but I see that no matter how rebellious someone is or how poor their caliber, as long as their heart is right and they’re willing to strive in pursuit of the truth, then God will continue to work on them with the greatest patience, breaking down and fragmenting the truth bit by bit, and fellowshipping with them in as much detail as possible. I am deeply moved seeing how much God pays to make mankind complete, never giving up until He succeeds. I feel that no matter how poor my caliber, I must try to do better, be diligent in my pursuit, and not lose heart.) It’s a known fact that people are of poor caliber or rebellious, but God never said that because of this you won’t be saved. If He won’t save you, then why speak these words to you, or pay such a price? In doing all these things, God’s intention has already been clearly told to mankind and made explicitly known. It’s not secret but known, and anyone with heart and spirit can understand; only those fools who don’t have spiritual understanding can be negative, and only those who don’t understand the truth will feel disappointed and dismayed, believing themselves incapable of being saved. The most crucial thing about believing in God is that you must believe all these words and truths which He speaks. As long as you have resolve, and can put the truth into practice, then they can become your life. It doesn’t matter how mature your life is in the end, as long as you positively and proactively practice God’s words without deliberately violating them or the truth, practice as much as you understand and strive for the truth, and perform your duty with all of your heart and strength, then this is up to standard. God’s requirements for man are not high. The truths on which God fellowships are comprehensive, and His words are particularly detailed and specific. Why speak in this way? It’s in provision to all mankind, not just one small group or a couple types of people. Of all the truths provided to all mankind, there is a limit to what you can practice and attain. Why do I say there is a limit? Because everyone’s caliber, insight, and ability to understand are different, as are the environments God arranges for them and the duties they perform, these “differences” lead each person to be able to practice and enter only part of God’s word, and what they can achieve or put into practice is limited. For example, is it appropriate if someone experiences a trial of sickness, realizes that the trial comes from God, but then thinks God should make everyone experience a trial of sickness? (No, it’s not.) This comes entirely from human will. God works differently on everyone, and this trial is targeted at a particular group of people. God works on them to have them experience the trial of sickness. What do all people gain after God has had one group of people experience a trial of sickness? It’s that, during the trial, people should learn how to submit to God, know their own rebelliousness, rectify the relationship between created beings and the Creator, correct the relationship between man and God, be able to understand God’s heart, achieve submission to Him and, no matter what happens, do not misunderstand God, but just submit. This aspect of the truth is what everyone should gain. If you gain this aspect of the truth from someone else’s experience, must you then also experience this trial? Not necessarily. God chooses different people—perhaps the right person, or someone special—to experience this trial and part of God’s work. This is what God has promised man, and is what He will do. Some people have experienced the pain of losing a loved one, and from this loss have experience and testimony, submission to God, and true reliance and belief. From the work God does on a particular group of people, everyone can see testimony that everything God does is right and what people should choose is submission, not analysis, research, or reasoning with Him, having Him explain it clearly and thoroughly; they should submit unconditionally and without complaint. Additionally, people should learn to understand the meaning and value of all the work that God does. From these ways of God’s work, and all aspects of His words, what each individual experiences is but a small part of God’s words. Within this small part, depending on your caliber, your family environment, and the duty you are currently performing, what you experience of God’s words is a ten-thousandth of them, or you could say only a ten-thousandth. If you enter into this ten-thousandth and truly achieve unconditional, absolute submission to God, place yourself in the position of a created being, submit to the Creator’s sovereignty and arrangements, and achieve the result God wants to attain in you, then you’ll be saved. This is easy to understand, and is the way things are.

What is key in performing your duties is that you are loyal. What is loyalty? It means to be serious and responsible, to perform your responsibility in full, without being the least bit perfunctory. If you are perfunctory, then when something goes wrong it’s a mark of shame, and this is absolutely not a trivial matter. Moreover, regarding the work assigned to you in God’s house, everyone should fellowship together more, seek the truth principles more, and find the correct principles. When problems are discovered they should be solved quickly, otherwise promptly report those which cannot be solved to superiors. Strive to ensure the work of God’s house goes smoothly, with no obstacles, loopholes, or delay. Do your job well, promote the spread of the gospel work, and let God’s will be thoroughly carried out on earth. This way, your duty will have been performed well. In fact, within the scope of someone performing their duty, these are the few aspects of the truth that they can practice, achieve, and touch upon, and entering the realities of these truths is achieving the minimum standard God requires of mankind. Some people’s faith is weak, some people are cowards, others are of poor caliber, or have distortions in understanding, or have foolish thinking; these and other negative and passive things in all aspects will affect people’s ability to put the truth into practice and do their duty effectively. God makes His requirements of people based on their caliber, character, and degree of understanding of the truth. What is the standard for this requirement? God looks at whether someone is sincere in their belief in God and if they can accept the truth; these are the two most crucial conditions. Some people are naturally stupid, have distortions in their understanding of things, lack insight, are slow to learn anything, don’t seem to understand whatever others say, and need to have their hands held when being taught—these are people of very poor caliber, and this will never change. Others may have a wealth of knowledge, or are full of profound wisdom, appearing very astute on the outside, but are prone to have distortions in understanding of matters relating to the truth. Even if they understand the truth, they still cannot accept it, and this is their fatal flaw. Someone like this is easily influenced by knowledge and doctrine when performing their duty, and finds it difficult to act according to the truth principles or change their views on things. So, what should they do if they really want to pursue the truth? The key is seeing if they can accept the truth. If they can, then the problem is easily solved, but if they stubbornly refuse to accept the truth then it’s game over. Not only will they fail in performing their duty well, but I’m afraid there’s also no way for them to be saved. One’s educational attainment does not matter, nor how savvy they are—what is crucial is being able to accept the truth and love God’s words. What God looks at is how much of the truth you can practice, having been enlightened to understand it in the environment He has arranged. He looks at how much of yourself you give to the tasks He demands, how much strength you give them, how much effort you expend. For example, you are of average caliber, not very well educated, your comprehension ability is poor, and a little distorted. These are objective facts. Yet when something occurs, and God allows you to see the flaws in it, that there is a problem with it, and whose responsibility it is, then this matter will reveal whether you can uphold the principles and are a practitioner of the truth. If you perform your duty loyally and are sincere toward God, what, then, should you do about that thing? What should you do to be in line with the truth, to do what God demands? In such circumstances, God does not look at your caliber or at how educated you are, or at how many years you have believed in Him; He looks at your viewpoint and attitude in the thing that has occurred, whether you’re sincere, and, whether you bring your conscience to bear at that time. If you are sincere to God, you will have a sense of responsibility, and you will think, “This thing may not fall to me, but it does touch on the church’s work. I have to make inquiries and hear more about it.” And having made your inquiries, you may learn that the supervisor has been indolent and irresponsible, that they have not taken the matter seriously and held it up. You would then seek the supervisor out and fellowship with them, rectifying the issue promptly. You will not have needed to seek from the Above; you will have resolved the problem yourself. You are of ordinary caliber and have a few deficiencies and faults, but will those things have affected your practice of the truth? Will they have affected your fulfillment of your duty or your loyalty to God? They will not. Some people say they are foolish and distorted in their understanding, some say they do not have spiritual understanding, and others say they are of poor caliber and uneducated. If that is so, may you just not practice the truth when something occurs? God does not look at people’s caliber or their degree of education. These things do not have much to do with the practice of the truth. These shortfalls and deficiencies do not have an impact on your practice of the truth, or on your loyalty to God, or on the responsibility you take for your duty’s performance. God looks at whether you are sincere—this is what is most practical, and it is something people can achieve. God uses the most practical means to take the measure of each person. Some people say, “My caliber is poor, I’m ignorant, I have too much knowledge, it influences me putting the truth into practice.” These are all excuses, and they don’t hold water. But why? Because that’s not the way God measures people. That’s your own standard, not God’s. What is God’s standard when measuring someone? God looks at whether someone is loyal to Him and whether they’re sincere. If you’re loyal to God, then it doesn’t matter if your understanding is a little distorted or absurd. Some people say, “I don’t have spiritual understanding.” Well, are you loyal to God? If so, then it won’t affect you putting the truth into practice. Is this clear enough? If you are loyal to God, and perform your duty with sincerity, could you still be negative and weak when pruned? So what should be done if you really are negative and weak? (We should pray to God and depend on God, try and think what God asks, reflect on what we lack, what mistakes we have made; in the areas we have fallen down, that is where we should climb back up again.) That’s right. Negativity and weakness are not big problems. God does not condemn them. So long as someone can climb back up where they have fallen, and learn their lesson, and perform their duty normally, that’s all there is to it. No one will hold it against you, so do not be endlessly negative. If you discard your duty and flee from it, you will have ruined yourself completely. Everyone is negative and weak at times—just search for the truth, and negativity and weakness are easily resolved. Some people’s state is completely changed just by reading a chapter of God’s words or singing a few hymns; they can open their heart in prayer to God, and they can praise Him. Has their problem not then been resolved? To be pruned is, in fact, absolutely a good thing. Even if the words that prune you are a bit harsh, a bit biting, that is because you acted quite without reason, and you violated principles without even realizing it—how could you not be pruned in such circumstances? Pruning you in this way is actually to help you, this is love for you. You should understand this and not complain. So, if pruning gives rise to negativity and complaint, it is foolishness and ignorance, the behavior of someone without reason.

What is the most important thing to focus on when believing in God? Whether someone’s caliber is high or low, whether they have spiritual understanding, or what kind of pruning they face—none of this is important. What is the important thing nowadays? It’s how you enter the truth realities. In order to do so, what is the most basic thing someone should have? They must have a sincere heart. What does it mean to be sincere? It means not being slippery when things befall you, not considering your own interests, not plotting and scheming with others, and not playing deceitful games with God. If you can cheat God and lack sincerity toward Him, then you’re completely done for and God will not save you, so what’s the point of understanding the truth? You may have spiritual understanding, be of good caliber, be eloquent, and be able to comprehend things quickly, draw inferences, and understand everything God says, but if you play deceitful games with God when things befall you, this is a satanic disposition and is very dangerous. Your caliber is of no use no matter how good it is, and God will not want you. God will say, “You speak well, are of good caliber, are quick-witted, and have spiritual understanding, but there is just one problem—you don’t love the truth.” Those who don’t love the truth are troublesome, and God doesn’t want them. A person without a good heart will be disposed of, just like how a car that looks well-maintained from the outside but has a bad engine will be completely discarded. People are like this, too: No matter how good your caliber appears to be, how smart, eloquent, or capable you are, or how good you are at handling problems, it’s all no use, and this isn’t the key point. So, what is the key point? It’s about whether someone’s heart loves the truth. It is not about listening to how they speak, but looking at how they act. God does not look at what you say or promise before Him; He looks at whether what you do has truth reality. Also, God does not care how high, profound, or mighty your actions are, and even if you do a small little thing, if God sees sincerity in your every move, He shall say, “This person sincerely believes in Me. They have never boasted. They conduct themselves according to their station. Although they may not have made a great contribution to God’s house and are of poor caliber, they are steadfast and have sincerity in all they do.” What does this “sincerity” contain? It contains fear and submission to God, as well as true faith and love; it contains everything God wants to see. Such people may seem unremarkable to others, and they could well be a person who makes food or does the cleaning up, someone who performs an ordinary duty. Such people are unremarkable to others, haven’t achieved anything great, and have nothing estimable, admirable or enviable about them—they are just ordinary people. And yet, all that God requires is found in them and lived out in them, and they give it all to God. Tell Me, what more does God want? He is satisfied with them. Therefore, do not become discouraged and negative just because your stature is too small and you don’t understand the truth, or because you see others walk the path of being perfected after facing tribulations and experiencing trials and refinement, and do not think that God doesn’t love you or is unwilling to perfect you. What’s your hurry? What God gives to each person is different, and when you measure yourself, first measure what God has given you and what your own conditions are, and then you can understand that everything God does is good. Someone might say, “My caliber is poor. Is what God gives me still good?” Yes, it’s good. Someone else might say, “I’m quite stupid. Is what God gives me still good?” Yes, all of it is good. Why is it all good? If you weren’t stupid then you’d become arrogant and forget your place, so this protects you and is a good thing. If you all had greater ability and skill than you presently do, who would be able to remain this well-behaved and this willing to perform your duty in God’s house? Isn’t it the case that there are some people like this, but not many? (Yes.) Everything God does is good and right, it’s just that people don’t understand this clearly. People always want more from God, as if the more He gives someone, the more they’ll be able to put the truth into practice, but that’s actually not the case. God has already given you enough; He has given you everything and bestowed His life upon you, so what else do you want? These words that God says and all the work that He does are plentiful and sufficient for mankind. There’s nothing people can demand of God, and they should not complain about Him and say, “What can I do with this caliber or these meager gifts that God has given me?” There is so much you can do. What God wants isn’t what you imagine—He wants you to put the truth into practice, do things according to principles, and fulfill the duties that you should fulfill. You don’t do what you’re able to do, but blindly do what you shouldn’t. This is called neglecting your work. Are you not aiming a bit too high? (Yes.) What do people want to do? To establish prestige among others, to have their words and actions admired and highly regarded, and to be widely renowned. God doesn’t want you to become that kind of person, so He didn’t give you those kinds of things. If you had the chance to become that kind of person, would you be willing to turn it down? Could you let it go so easily? The consequence of this is dangerous. Did you presume that those things were good? Why do some people become antichrists? Isn’t it because they think they have a bit of skill, and so they become supremely arrogant? Why are they able to walk that path? They’re simply that kind of person; they will have to walk that path sooner or later, and God has no plans of speaking the truth to them or saving them. So, what He gives to you is certainly different from what He gives to others. If you’re always comparing yourself with others and always wanting the same as what they have, is this pure comprehension? You do not understand God’s intention! Therefore, when you realize that your caliber is poor, that you lack spiritual understanding and have distorted comprehension, that you are often weak, or think that you have too many problems and shortcomings, you must first ponder why God didn’t give you a particular gift. Herein lies His goodwill. Take another look at which path most of those gifted and talented people take, and what God’s attitude is toward them. What is the one sentence you’ll most want to say once you understand this matter? (Thank God for His protection.) That’s right, you should thank God and say: “God, You’re so good to me, You didn’t give me gifts or talents, and made me like a fool, an idiot. This is my blessing! I’m not negative or sad. What I lack now is sincerity and loyalty to You. I’m not asking to be shrewd and eloquent, or for gifts and talent. I only want to offer my sincerity to You. Gifts, talents, and knowledge, as well as status and fame among people are not good things, and I don’t want them.” Does this not show transformation? (Yes, it does.) So, could you still be in pain and weep because you lack so much? You won’t do this anymore, and you won’t feel wronged. Otherwise, when others pruned you, you’d think, “I’m stupid, everyone in the world looks down on me, and in God’s house I’ll never be promoted or hold an important position.” The implication is, “God’s given me so little, so how come He gives so much to others?” You’d always complain in your heart and feel wronged. In fact, a great blessing has come to you and you don’t even know it. If such a thing happens again in the future, will your point of view be different? (Yes, it will.) What will change in people when their point of view is different? (They won’t aim so high and pursue such lofty things, and will be able to perform their duty well with a grateful heart and their feet on the ground.) They can be firmly grounded, live authentically and realistically, and pursue different goals. Tell Me, is it better for God to make you a fool and an idiot who can properly perform their duty in a grounded manner so that you can be saved, or for Him to give you a high caliber, high level of education, good looks, and eloquence, as well as working ability and special strengths, so that wherever you go people look up to you and you are a giant among dwarfs, and then you walk the path of an antichrist? Which would you choose? (It’s better to be the fool and the idiot.) You can say this now, but if someone really did call you a fool and an idiot, it would make you upset. You must think like this: “Even though my caliber is poor and I’m ignorant, I’m better than evil people and antichrists because I still have a chance to be saved.” You must learn to comfort yourself. (I recall that there were a few others who believed in God with me. They all had a high caliber and were very astute, but because they always fought for power and gain and disturbed the work of the church, they were cleared out and expelled. I feel like I’ve been able to get to where I am today because I’m of poor caliber, I’m stupid, and I’m able to be well-behaved—this is also God’s great protection.) Why does God protect you? Is it because you’re stupid? Does He sympathize with the weak? No, He doesn’t; it’s not like the nonbelievers say, that the crying child gets the candy. That’s not the case. What is the precise way to look at this? Which way of looking at it is in line with the truth? (It’s because people believe with a bit of sincerity and love for the truth in their hearts, and are willing to pursue the truth—God saves people who have hearts like these, and thus arranges various environments to protect them.) That’s right. God’s protection for you is in exchange for your sincerity toward Him. So, what is most precious? Man’s sincerity is most precious. You have a little love for positive things and sincerity toward God, and you exchange these for God’s protection and grace—you have gained a lot. Someone might say, “My caliber is poor, and even though I’ve gained a lot I still don’t understand anything.” Do you not understand much? Your ability to perform your duty and follow God today is related to your understanding of the truth. Someone else might say, “What do I understand? I can’t explain it clearly.” You might not be able to explain it clearly, but you are able to persist in performing your duty in God’s house, and you understand a lot. No matter how deep or shallow your understanding of these things, they are certainly related to the truth and are close to it, which is why you’ve been supported until now and continuously perform your duty. Isn’t this the case? (Yes, it is.) Thinking that you’re a fool or an idiot isn’t a bad thing, and looking at it now, “fool” and “idiot” are nicknames without any disparaging or belittling meaning. When being called a fool and an idiot is compared with being called an antichrist, which is better? (Being called a fool and an idiot is better.) If, one day, God says, “Come over here, fool. Come over here, idiot,” you might not be happy, but you’d mull it over, thinking, “He called me a fool and not an antichrist, so I’ll go over.” And you’d happily go. Then someone says, “How come you’re so happy to be called a fool?” And you say, “He called me a fool and didn’t say I was an antichrist, or that I couldn’t be saved. That’s why I’m happy.” Calling you a fool isn’t treating you as an outsider, but as a family member, as someone familiar. It’s like people calling their children “little monsters”; it might sound a little coarse, but it’s actually the truth, and it’s just a term of endearment. What if you were called an antichrist? Then you’d be in trouble, as changing a name means that its nature is different, and your outcome will be different too. Which would you choose? (I’d choose to be called a fool and an idiot.) It’s not good to always be a fool and an idiot; your caliber must improve a little too. Has your caliber improved over the years? (It’s improved just a little, but not too much.) In the matter of life entry, if you truly work hard and keep striving then you’ll certainly improve, but it’s impossible to see major improvements all at once. It’s a process of slow growth, but as long as you have entry then you won’t regress, and as long as you pursue then your life entry will grow slowly, little by little.

It’s not an easy task for God to work the truth into people. It does not happen as fast as the speed at which a seed sprouts when planted in the earth—it is quite different. God’s salvation of man is by thoroughly cleansing and transforming his satanic disposition and by allowing man to live out the truth reality in His words, but these are not simple matters. Even if you listen to sermons, read God’s words, pray, and experience every single day, your progress will be limited, and your life growth will be slow. Many processes are needed for someone to understand the truth. People need many repeated experiences, and they also need to keep striving and put effort into trying to comprehend the truth—only then can they understand it. Also, the work of the Holy Spirit is necessary, or else what people gain will be even more limited. Many people have believed in God for twenty or thirty years but still cannot speak of their experiential testimony. This is because they’ve never pursued the truth or put concentrated effort into comprehending the truth, resulting in gaining nothing even after believing in God for decades. People need to understand the truth, experience it, and comprehend it, and they especially need God to arrange environments for them. The combination of these different aspects causes people to have a little understanding and entry. Once this is generated inside you, it’ll give you different knowledge, feelings, and thoughts, allowing your consciousness and thoughts to progress and change a little, which in turn will slightly strengthen your faith in God and transform your attitude toward the truth and your own life path a little. They’re all little, minute changes, but these minute changes will produce a huge shift in your outlook on life, in your thoughts and views, and in your attitude toward things and God. This is the power of God’s word—the truth.