Look around, can you tell if there are many people in the church who have spiritual understanding and can understand the truth? (I used to think that the people who lacked spiritual understanding were those who had absurd understanding or were numb and dull-witted, while most people who did their duty had spiritual understanding. Now, after listening to God’s fellowship, I realize that only those who can understand the truth really have spiritual understanding. They are in the minority, while the majority of people lack spiritual understanding.) Currently, those who have spiritual understanding and understand the truth are in the minority, and those who do not have spiritual understanding or understand the truth are in the majority. For instance, how should people comprehend and know the truth of submission? Most people think that submission means to do what they are told and not resist or rebel when facing an issue. To them, this is submission. People don’t understand any of the details of why God has people submit to Him, what the meaning of submission is, what the principle of submission is, how a person should submit, and what the corruptions within people that need to be resolved when they practice submission are; they just follow the regulations. They think, “Submission means that if you’re told to cook, don’t sweep the floor, and if you’re told to sweep the floor, don’t clean the glass. If you’re told to do something, just do it. It’s that simple. Don’t be concerned with what’s in your heart, because God doesn’t look at these things.” In fact, God has people resolve their rebelliousness and corruption at the same time that they submit to Him so that they may attain true submission. This is the truth of submission. How much do people ultimately come to understand and know? They understand that everything God asks people to do is something they ought to do. In this is God’s will, and people should submit to Him unconditionally. If a person can come to know this much, they understand the truth of submission and can practice submission to God and satisfy Him. However, most people don’t know what submission to God is; they only know how to follow regulations. As a result, they can’t achieve submission to God, because they don’t understand God’s intentions or the truth of submission. These are people who do not have spiritual understanding. People who lack spiritual understanding cannot understand the truth of submission, so it is hard for them to put it into practice. They cannot find the way or the principles of practice. People who do not have spiritual understanding are not spiritually enlightened. No matter how the truth is fellowshipped to them, they do not understand it. They do not know that practicing the truth of submission is the process of life entry. Life entry is when a person dissects and comes to know the intentions, notions, preferences, and choices they reveal in the process of accepting and practicing the truth, so that they may understand their own rebellious state, realize that they are someone who is rebelling against and resisting God, and that they absolutely cannot achieve compatibility with Him. When people have understood this, it is easy for them to practice the truth. This is only the beginning of practicing the truth of submission. In the process that starts with your reflecting on and understanding your own corrupt disposition up to the point where you resolve your corrupt disposition, your rebelliousness, your extravagant wishes for God, your preferences, considerations, and ambitions, you will discover your own corruption over and over again, know the areas in which you are not compatible with God and understand your own nature essence. You will also come to the realization that it is not easy for people to submit to God, that it may be easy to understand the doctrine of submitting to God and to say you will be submissive to God, but it is not so easy to carry this out. And what is God’s purpose in requiring submission? Is it just to reveal people? What is the truth in God’s demand for submission? The process where people submit to God is one by which God cleanses people. That is, God uses the truth of submission to cleanse and restrain people and to guide them to come before God and know themselves, to understand their own rebelliousness, their own corrupt disposition, and their own nature that resists God. This is what it means to understand one’s own essence. What is the final result that is achieved? People can understand the ugliness of the depths of their corruption, know what they really are, realize what they should do, and where they should stand as created beings, they have true submission to God, and they no longer make unreasonable demands. This is the intended result that is achieved. This is what it means to enter into the reality of the truth. Are these not the details of what it means to know oneself? Are these not the detailed issues involved in submitting to God? Do people think of these details when they hear the truth of submission? No, people cannot. Can they achieve true submission to God if they do not fully understand these details? If people cannot achieve submission to God, can they perform their duties well as created beings? It is impossible. Recognizing these details about oneself is beyond crucial; it is the most basic lesson to achieve salvation. When you submit to the very end, you don’t research what God says, you don’t have your own personal opinions, and you don’t say “I think,” “I wonder,” “I plan to do this and that,” or “I should do this and that.” You don’t have all these considerations, desires, and ambitions that start with the “I.” You are able to accept what God says to the letter and practice in accordance with His words. This is what it means to obey the commands of God and follow His way. In this way, God’s process of cleansing you has come to an end. Your corruption has been cleansed, and your true identity as a created being has been restored. This is what it means to find your place and stand firmly in it. Without these considerations, decisions, and desires which start with “I” to disturb you, it is easy for you to practice submission. Some people say, “God is always asking for submission, but that doesn’t make sense! Don’t I have to stand up for myself? Isn’t my complaint reasonable and sensible?” Is this submission? Does such a person understand the truth of submission? They do not understand the truth of submission, do not know the meaning of submission, what their obligations and responsibilities are, nor do they know their duty or where they should stand. Sometimes God’s words that expose people are pretty harsh. When people listen to them, they feel distressed and uncomfortable. They feel pain inside, with their dignity and integrity even being damaged. They think, “God has no love, mercy, leniency, compassion, tolerance, or forgiveness for people. He is too harsh!” All people value their dignity and integrity, and they find it extremely hard to accept it if these things are damaged. As a result, they cannot be submissive even if they wanted to. In their heart, they think, “God demands too much of people. He is making a fool of me and tormenting me, isn’t He?” However, this is not correct. God’s request that people submit to Him is not intended to compel anyone to submit to Him, much less force anyone to submit to Him. God’s request comes with conditions. It is addressed to those who have conscience and reason and can accept the truth and to those who understand the truth. If you don’t understand the truth and do not have conscience and reason, you are not able to fulfill God’s requirements. In fact, all the truths that God expresses are issued to those who love the truth and can accept it. God does not require anything from those who do not love the truth and accept it. Do you see anyone who does not practice the truth receiving immediate discipline or punishment? This does not happen to a single person. God’s will is to hope that all people can accept, understand, and reach for the truth. This is His will. If a person sees God’s words and feels that He is demanding that they do something, then they have misunderstood. Therefore, when you read God’s words, you have to understand His will, target audience, and meaning. Do not make careless commentary on His words. If you are always giving your own excuses and lack submission, what will God think of you? God will say that you are not cleansed, not a person who submits to God, and that you have not lived out the reality of submission to God. Therefore, the submission that you speak of is just a doctrine and will forever be a theory. If people often have notions in their heart when they encounter various people, events, things, and environments that have been arranged by God, they are likely to reason with and fight back against God. This type of person does not possess the truth reality of submission, and, for these people, submission is just doctrine and empty words. In what context can people like this be submissive to a small degree? They have to be in a suitable environment which is in line with their notions. They also have to be in a good mood. Only then can they practice the truth of submission. So does this mean that they possess the reality of submission to God? No, because their submission is too limited. It has to conform to their notions and meet their conditions in order for them to be submissive. Situations like this are few and far between. Then what does true submission look like? As long as a person acknowledges that it is the truth, then they do not put forward excuses or conditions and can be submissive regardless of whether or not it suits the tastes or notions of man. They will submit without arguing back even if they were made to die. This is called being submissive unto death. This is the submission of Peter. How many people can have submission like this? Almost none. Believers in God must understand what the truth is. The truth is the way that should be followed by people in all places and in all eras. It is the way that all should follow. Regardless of whether people are able or willing, the truth is the way that all of humanity—corrupted humanity and that which is uncorrupted by Satan alike, today’s humanity and tomorrow’s alike—should follow. And why is this so? Because the truth is the right way, the reality of all positive things, which all created beings should carry out. What should you do when the truth conflicts with your thoughts, views, or disposition? You should choose to submit. This is the truth of submission. What is the truth of submission? And what is the practical side of this truth of submission to God? Regardless of whether you want to practice the truth or not, whether you think it is right or wrong, whatever your point of view may be, and regardless of how you view God’s words and God’s demands, you should accept, submit to, and practice them. This is submission, as well as the truth of submission. People cannot put the truth into practice because they have corrupt dispositions. It is not the case that if someone cannot practice the truth, then it is not the truth or that it becomes empty words. This belief is mistaken and absurd. Some wonder, “If one person can’t practice the truth, it may be the truth, but if no one is capable of practicing it, isn’t it then not the truth?” Is this question correct? (No.) This is logical reasoning. The fact is that the essence of the truth never changes. Even if you cannot put it into practice, the truth is still the way that people should follow and the correct path. You can’t say that the truth is incorrect if one person is unable to put it into practice no matter how hard they try. The truth is still correct if ten thousand people cannot put it into practice. Even if no one can put it into practice, the truth is still correct. The truth never changes. Only the truth can enable humankind to live normally, to live before God, and to receive His approval and blessing. This is the truth and is the result that can be achieved by accepting the truth. Where does the truth come from? The truth comes from God. It is expressed by Him. His words are the truth. The truth is the word of God and the word of God is the truth. If people recognize the truth and are willing to accept it, what problems must people resolve in order to be submissive? They must resolve all of their corrupt dispositions, as well as their personal choices, considerations, plans, and so on. Can these things be laid aside immediately after you have recognized them? (No.) It is in the process of seeking or practicing the truth of submission, through praying for God to arrange environments and raise up people, events, and things, through praying for His chastening and discipline, His chastisement and judgment, His trials and refinement that people gradually resolve these things and are purified—and it is only when one is purified that they can achieve absolute submission. If you have submission in the process of trying to resolve these problems, they can be resolved. If you do not, then they will never be resolved. Ultimately, only when all of these problems are resolved and you are purified, will you be someone who is submissive to God. Why do I say this? Do you understand the relationship here? When you have submission, this aspect of the truth can be worked into you and become your reality. When you live out this aspect of reality, your problems in this area will be resolved. This is how it is.

What is the accurate way to measure whether a person has spiritual understanding? Is it enough only to look at whether they can understand the literal meaning of God’s words? (No.) What exactly does it mean to have spiritual understanding? It is when a person can understand God’s words, and when they can understand and comprehend sermons and fellowship implicitly, and they can understand the words of sermons and fellowship without further explanation even if they were not related clearly. Even if the meaning of sermons and fellowship isn’t completely spelled out, this person can still work it out and know what it means. This type of person is one who has spiritual understanding. Those who can’t understand God’s words or understand sermons and fellowship, who are always misunderstanding these things and feeling that there are inconsistencies within these things—these kinds of people do not have spiritual understanding. For people who lack spiritual understanding, they will not be able to fully understand the truth, even if you fellowship about it clearly with them. For them, being able to understand doctrines and follow regulations is good enough. Therefore, it is not easy for a person who does not have spiritual understanding to understand the truth. However, if someone who has spiritual understanding does not pursue or understand the truth, then they are essentially no different from someone who lacks spiritual understanding. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to understand the truth. Whether or not a person has spiritual understanding, they should reach for the truth. The more thoroughly they understand the truth, the more they will benefit. Not only will they be able to see matters clearly, but they will also be able to choose the correct path. Therefore, if a person wants to pursue the truth, in one respect, they must hunger for God’s words, put effort into His words, and learn to contemplate them, pray-read them, fellowship on them, and seek within them. And what is the most important thing? They must practice and experience God’s words. Only when you have practiced and experienced these words, and God’s words have become your reality, can you truly understand what His words are referring to and exactly what truths they contain. When you have understood the truth, you will naturally have spiritual understanding. But attaining spiritual understanding is not the goal. What is? The goal is to practice the truth and understand the truth. If someone has a way forward when they practice God’s words, and knows how to proceed, and, having practiced His words, can understand the truths in it, and knows the relationships and principles of practice in it, then that is someone with spiritual understanding who has achieved the effects of understanding the truth. Whether one has spiritual understanding is connected to whether they can understand and gain the truth, so for believers in God, whether or not one has spiritual understanding is an issue of great significance, one that directly affects one’s ability to understand the truth. For example, God requires submission of man, but to what exactly is man to submit? What is the object of submission? (The truth and God’s word.) Submit to the truth and God’s word. In more tangible terms, this means to submit to God’s requirements for people; to submit to the real-life environments, people, events, and things God arranges for people; and to submit to God’s requirements of people in their various duties. Let us go further still: What else is contained within the reality of submission? (Submitting to the work arrangements of the Above.) That is part of it. What else? (Submission in every duty that God’s house arranges for us.) Duties are a very important matter for believers in God, and whether one can perform their duty well is related to whether they possess the truth reality. There is another part to it: the standard of conduct God requires of people. This is very important as well. What does one’s conduct entail? It entails how one treats their brothers and sisters, how they treat wealth, and how they treat their prospects, marriage, affections, and fleshly enjoyment. Seeking the truth in all these various matters, acting according to God’s requirements, doing things according to the principles of the truth, and adhering to the principles of the truth in how one practices and lives—all of this is submission. All of this is the reality of submission. For example, some people believe how one treats one’s brothers and sisters is unrelated to the truth of submission. Is this view right? It is related to how one conducts oneself. Is it a principle of human conduct to always bully a brother or sister whom you don’t like, always speaking to them harshly? (No.) How does God require people to treat others? (He asks that we treat people fairly.) What does fairness mean? It means treating people according to the truth principles, not according to their appearance, identity, status, how knowledgeable they are, or one’s own preferences or feelings toward them. Then why is it fair to treat people according to the truth principles? There are many who do not understand this, and they need to understand the truth in order to do so. Is fairness as understood by unbelievers true fairness? Absolutely not. Only with God can there be righteousness and fairness. Only in the requirements the Creator has of His created beings is there fairness, can God’s righteousness be revealed. Therefore, fairness can only come from treating people according to the truth principles. What should you require of people in the church and how should you treat them? Whatever duty they can perform is what should be arranged for them to perform—and if they are incapable of performing a duty, and even cause disturbances, then, if they merit being cleared out, they should be cleared out, even if they have a good relationship with you. This is fairness, this is what is included in the principles of treating others fairly. This has to do with the principles of conduct. One aspect of the truth of submission involves performing one’s duty. Another entails how people obey and treat the issue when disaster and illness strike, and how they stand firm in their testimony. Beyond that, there is the aspect of people’s conduct. Most importantly, they must strive to be an honest person and must have conscience and reason. They must also live, and feed, clothe, shelter themselves, and get around as a normal person. In terms of quality of life, what is God’s requirement for people? (We should be content with food and clothing.) That was God’s requirement for people in the Age of Grace. What are God’s requirements for people in the present age? God has requirements for people’s food, clothing, shelter, and means of transportation; for their speech and deportment; and for their manner of dress. He does not ask you to be ascetic, nor would He have you indulge in fleshly comfort. Laziness, indulging in fleshly comfort, and pleasure-seeking are not God’s requirements. What are the standards of God’s requirements? He requires you to be fully devoted, conscientious, responsible in your duties, that you suffer and pay a price, that you work diligently and not be lazy. God also has standards of His requirements for your attitudes toward wealth, the world, evil trends, and the attitude with which you should treat unbelievers related to you, and there is truth to be found in all of these requirements. Each of these large categories has inside it truths people should practice and submit. Some people indulge in comfort, and enjoy eating, drinking, and having fun. They love to indulge their fleshly desires and follow trends. When they see how people in society are having fun, they want to join in, and their hearts are always with the outside world. Can they perform their duty well? (No.) Some people, when they see unbelievers in their pretty clothes, find what they wear as believers in God too plain, and always worrying about being looked down upon, they will get themselves all worked up. Others see other young couples living in their own little worlds, and they feel lonely and isolated by themselves. They are always pained by these matters, and they do not seek the truth, nor do they come before God. Can they perform their duty well? (No.) Unremarkable though these things are, and though they seem not to involve evident truths, they are related to the most basic truths of God’s requirements for man. If a person cannot overcome and subdue these problems, and if those things are always a disturbance within them and impairing their belief in God and their performance of their duty, then it will be quite hard for them to embark on the right track of belief in God.

Every aspect of the truth, from the most basic to those that run a bit deeper, is the truth. There is no distinction between surface-level and profound truth; the distinction is in what truths people should practice under what circumstances. Some truths have to do with people’s duties; some have to do with their daily lives, for instance, with their daily habits, rules, and preferences; and some have to do with the environments, people, events, and things God arranges for man. No matter what the problem is, regardless of whether it has to do with daily life or duty, and no matter how big or small the matter is that the problem touches upon, if you can treat it seriously, seek the truth, act according to the truth principles, and practice according to the truth principles, then you are pursuing the truth. Some people listen to the sermons for a few years and rather than focusing on practicing the truth, they only focus on listening to the sermons that they have not heard before. They always want to hear some of the language and mysteries of the third heaven, and are always preaching lofty sermons to others. When they see that these people don’t understand it, they are quite pleased with themselves. This is beyond reason. What is the use of talking about those empty things? If what you preach does not relate to man’s duty, to the states and corrupt dispositions that are revealed in man’s daily lives; if it is disconnected from people’s lives, their entry, and their duty; if it has no relation to the states that manifest and are revealed in their daily lives; then what you preach is nothing but doctrine and empty words, not the truth. There are many people who think they understand the truth after listening to a great number of sermons. They summarize from these sermons some doctrines and regulations, often preaching to people and fellowshipping with them, but they do not know how to deal with problems or difficulties when they arise. So why is it that the doctrine they understand is not able to solve any real problems? This proves that they still do not understand the truth. Some people have been preaching words and doctrines for many years, but when they are asked to fellowship about the truth and solve problems, they are unable to do so. When they are asked to write about their experiential testimonies, they are unable to do so, and when someone encounters something and seeks them out for help, they cannot give it. What sort of person is this? Such people do not understand the truth, nor do they have spiritual understanding. How pitiful! Big talk and loud chants; a focus on knowledge and doctrine and theology, on furnishing oneself with what others do not have, on learning what others have not heard before; or a focus on committing things to memory and winning the worship and admiration of others—can spiritual understanding be achieved with these things? (No.) And can those who cannot attain spiritual understanding understand the truth? (No.) Therefore, spiritual understanding is related to understanding the truth. No matter how many years someone has believed in God, nothing is more revealing of whether they have spiritual understanding better than whether they understand the truth. Those with spiritual understanding can easily understand God’s word, and they can easily understand the truth when they hear sermons. People who can understand the truth are people with spiritual understanding, and as long as those with spiritual understanding pursue the truth, they will easily enter the truth reality.

October 5, 2020