In the last meeting, we talked about performing your duty adequately. Achieving this is the first and most basic of the four fundamental conditions required for God’s perfection of man. Last time, we engaged in fellowship on the definition and principles of performing one’s duty. We also discussed some examples, fellowshipping on the various outward signs that indicate people are not performing their duties adequately. By doing this, I allowed God’s chosen people to clearly see that such problems should be corrected, and to understand the attitude God takes toward those who perform their duties in such a way. After fellowshipping on this, you gained a general understanding of how to perform your duty adequately, what to pay attention to, what things you cannot do, and what actions may offend God’s disposition and lead to destruction. By engaging in fellowship on how to perform your duty adequately, can you conceptually see and understand something of the truth of this matter? When performing various duties, what principles should all the varied types of people abide by, and what truths should they practice? Do you have a clear understanding of such specifics? (We do not clearly understand this.) Then we need to talk about it in greater detail. We must set out more detailed classifications so as to discuss what it means to perform one’s duty adequately.

The work of the house of God is divided into several main categories. The work that is at the forefront of all the work of God’s house is that of spreading the gospel. It involves an enormous number of people, it touches on a vast scope of things, and it involves a great amount of work. It is the first category of work, and the most important task in the overall work of the church. The work of expanding the gospel is the first important task in God’s management plan. That is why it must be classified as the first category of work. So, what is the title held by those who perform this duty? Spreaders of the gospel. As for the second category, what is the most important duty in the internal work of the church? (That of leaders and workers.) Right, it is the duty of leaders and workers at all levels in the church, including the supervisors and team leaders of various groups. This duty is of the utmost importance, and all of the work done by these people is important. This is the second category. As for the duties of the third category, what duties are relatively important in the work of spreading the gospel? (Some special duties.) Yes, the third category includes people who perform various special duties, including writing, translation, music, filmmaking, art, and external affairs work. Those of the fourth category mainly perform ordinary duties involved with logistical work, such as reception, cooking, and purchasing. A detailed classification of these duties is not necessary. The fifth category is for those people who can only perform some duties in their spare time due to their family situations, physical conditions, or other such reasons. These people perform their duties to the best of their abilities. This is the fifth category. The others, who do not perform their duties, are placed in the sixth category. These people have nothing to do with performing duties, so why should they be listed in a category at all? Because they are counted among the number of church members, they are listed in this last category. If they have listened to many sermons, are able to understand the truth, and voluntarily ask for duties to perform, we should allow such people to perform duties and give them an opportunity for repentance, as long as they have sincere faith and are not people of extremely low caliber or evil people, and provided they promise not to cause disturbances. The members of the church basically all fall into the six categories just mentioned. The only ones left are new believers. It cannot be said that they do not perform their duties. Rather, because they are small in stature and have only a shallow understanding of the truth, they cannot do anything. Even if some of them are of good caliber, they don’t understand the truth or principles, and so still can’t perform any duties. They can begin to perform duties after believing in God for two or three years. At that time, we can list them among the various categories of people who perform duties. To conclude, we have now clearly delineated the six categories. The first category is for those who spread the gospel; the second category is for the leaders and workers at all levels of the church; the third category is for those who perform special duties; the fourth category is for those who perform ordinary duties; the fifth category is for those who perform duties when time permits; and the sixth category is for those who do not perform duties. What principles provide the basis for the ordering of these categories? These categories are divided according to the nature of the work, the time required to do the work, the workload, and the importance of the work. When we previously talked about performing duties, we basically discussed the various aspects of the truth about performing duties. Our fellowship concerned the truth principles that all people should follow in performing their duties. We did not draw up any categories and we did not discuss in detail which principles each of these types of people should abide by, nor the specific truths they should focus on entering into. Next, we will fellowship on this aspect of the truth more completely, discussing each category in turn so as to be clear.

I will first open our fellowship on the truths that those who spread the gospel should understand. What are the basic truths that people who spread the gospel should understand and equip themselves with? How should you go about this duty to perform it well? You must be equipped with some truths of the vision needed for spreading the gospel and you must master the principles of spreading the gospel. Once you have mastered the principles of spreading the gospel, what other truths should you equip yourself with to resolve the notions and problems of others? How should you treat those who investigate the true way? The most important thing is to learn discernment. Who you can preach the gospel to and who you cannot: this is the first principle you must understand. If you preach the gospel to people who cannot be preached to, it will not only be wasted effort, but can easily bring about hidden dangers. This must be understood. In addition, even people who the gospel can be preached to will not accept it if you just say a few words or talk about some profound doctrines. It’s not that easy. It may be that you talk till your mouth goes dry and your tongue is parched, and you lose all patience, wanting to abandon those who are investigating the true way. In such circumstances, what is it most important to possess? (Love and patience.) You must have love and patience. If you lack all feeling of love, then you certainly have no patience. In addition to understanding the truth with respect to the vision, spreading the gospel also requires great love and great patience. Only in this way can you properly perform the duty of spreading the gospel. How is the duty of spreading the gospel defined? How do you view the duty of spreading the gospel? Wherein do those who spread the gospel differ from those who perform other duties? They bear witness to God’s work in the last days and bear witness to God’s coming. Some people say that they are messengers of the gospel, that they are sent on a mission, that they are angels come down from above. Can they be so defined? (They cannot.) What is the mission of those who spread the gospel? What image do they have in people’s minds? What is their role? (Preachers.) Preachers, messengers, what else? (Witnesses.) Most people would define them like this. But are these definitions actually accurate? The common terms are “preacher” and “witness”—“messenger of the gospel” is a more prestigious title. These three terms are often heard. No matter how people understand and define the titles of those who perform this duty, these titles are all inextricably linked to the word “gospel.” Which of these three terms is more relevant and more apt to the duty of spreading the gospel, making it a more rational title? (Preachers.) Most people think that the title of preacher is more apt. Does anyone give their vote to the title of witness? (Yes.) What about the title of messenger of the gospel? (No.) Basically no one agrees with the title of messenger of the gospel. Let us first discuss whether the title of preacher is appropriate. “Preach” means to spread, disseminate, convey, and publicize something—and what is the “way” that preachers preach about? (The true way.) That is a good way to say it. “Way” is the true way of God’s work and God’s salvation of man. This is how we explain and define the term preacher. Next, let’s talk about witness. What is it that a witness witnesses? (God’s work in the last days.) It is not wrong to say that a witness bears witness to God’s work in the last days. These two titles look to be relatively appropriate. What about messenger of the gospel? What does “gospel” refer to? It is the good news and glad tidings of the work of God, God’s salvation of man, and God’s return. How can we explain “messenger”? A good explanation of “messenger” is someone who is sent by God, one who is directly dispatched to spread the gospel, or a certain person God sends at a certain time to convey God’s words or important message. This is a messenger. Do those who spread the gospel play such a role? Do they do this sort of work? (No.) What kind of work do they do then? (They bear witness to the work of God in the last days.) Is their witness to God’s work in the last days a mission they have accepted directly from God? (No.) Then how can this mission be explained? (It is the duty of created beings.) It is the duty of people. Regardless of whether God has charged you, told you, or entrusted you with the proclamation of His new work and the dissemination of the gospel, you have the responsibility and the obligation to tell more people about the gospel, to disseminate it, and to convey it to more people. You have the responsibility and the obligation to enable more people to know this news, to come before God, and to return to God’s house. This is the duty and responsibility of people, so it cannot be said that they have been dispatched and sent out by God. Therefore, the word “messenger” is not appropriate here. What is the nature of this word? It is false, exaggerated, and empty. The word “messenger” is too exaggerated to be appropriate. From the time of the Old Testament to the present, from the beginning of God’s management work to the present, the role of messenger has never existed. That is to say, no such role has taken part in the work of God’s management plan for the salvation of mankind throughout its entire duration. How can ordinary people shoulder what is meant by the word “messenger”? No one can take on such work. Therefore, this role is not open to man, and no one can be linked to or associated with this word. A messenger, as people understand it, is someone who is sent by God to do something or to convey a message. Such a person has little to do with God’s grand and overarching work of managing mankind. That is to say, the role of messenger is all but nonexistent in the three stages of God’s work. Therefore, do not use this word in the future. It is naive to speak in this way. Can a person take on the title of “messenger of the gospel”? They cannot. For one thing, they are flesh and blood. In addition, they are a member of corrupt mankind. What type of being is a messenger? Do you know? (We don’t know.) You don’t know, yet you still dare to use this name. This is impersonation. It can be absolutely said that messengers have nothing to do with mankind, and humans cannot have anything to do with the word “messenger.” Mankind cannot shoulder it. Messengers of the gospel, the coming down of messengers from above, and the work of the messengers all basically came to an end in the time of Abraham in the Old Testament. This is already over and done with. Ever since God formally performed the work of mankind’s salvation, mankind should cease to use the word “messenger.” Why shouldn’t this word be used anymore? (Man cannot shoulder it.) It is not a matter of whether or not man can shoulder it, but rather that messengers have nothing to do with corrupt mankind. Among corrupt mankind, there is no such role, nor is there such a title. Let’s go back to the word “preacher.” If we were to give an objective, accurate, and profound definition of the “way” that they preach about, how would we define it? (The word of God.) This is a relatively general term. Specifically, does it only refer to the gospel and the message of God’s work at the present time? (No.) Then what is it that the people who spread the gospel actually proclaim? To what extent is the work of those who spread the gospel related to the “way”? What kind of work actually falls within the scope of their duties? They simply convey some basic information to the recipients of the gospel—such as that God has come in the last days, the work He has done, God’s words, and God’s will—so that people can hear and accept this information and then return to God. After they bring people before God, their responsibility to spread the gospel is fulfilled. Is any of what is meant by the “way” contained in the information they communicate? Here, the terms “information” and “gospel” are basically equivalent. So, do they have anything to do with the “way”? (No.) Why is there no such association? What exactly does the “way” refer to? The simplest word we can use as an explanation is path. The term “path” encapsulates the definition of “way,” which is more specific. To speak more concretely, the “way” is all the words given forth by God for the salvation of mankind, to free humans from their corrupt satanic dispositions, and to allow them to escape from Satan’s bondage and dark influence. Is this an accurate and concrete description? Looking at it now, is the word “preacher” an appropriate definition for those who perform the duty of spreading the gospel? (It is not suitable.) The duty of a preacher goes far beyond spreading the gospel. Only those who know God and bear witness to God can take on this title. Can an average person who spreads the gospel shoulder the work of a preacher? Absolutely not. Spreading the gospel is no more than proclaiming the good news and simply bearing witness to the work of God. These people cannot shoulder the work of preachers at all, they cannot perform the duty of preachers, so they cannot be called preachers. The title of preacher confers a higher standing, and those who spread the gospel do not merit this title. This title is not apt for them. Now the term “witness” is the only one that remains. What is it that a witness witnesses? (God’s work in the last days.) Is it apt to say that they proclaim and bear witness to God’s work in the last days? If the meaning of witness were to be accurately defined, it should refer to one who bears witness to God, rather than one who bears witness to the gospel. What if we called these people who spread the gospel witnesses to God? Are they able to bear witness to God? (They cannot.) How can we explain the term “witness” as used here? On close investigation, the word “witness” is also not appropriate. Since those who spread the gospel only proclaim the words spoken by God to all people who thirst for God’s words and tell the word of God to the people who welcome God’s appearance, this does not reach the true significance of the word “witness.” Why do I say that this is not what it means to bear witness? Bearing witness involves that which a person fellowships on and proclaims in order to enable people to come to know God and to bring these people before Him. At present, those who spread the gospel are merely bringing people into the church, into God’s workplace on earth. They do not bear witness to God’s disposition, to what God has and is, or to the work of God. Is the title of witness suitable for them? To speak precisely, it is neither suitable nor apt. Now, we have investigated and contemplated all three terms—messengers of the gospel, preachers, and witnesses—finding them all ill-suited to those who spread the gospel. Regardless of whether these terms come from religion or are commonly used by members of the house of God, these titles are neither suitable nor apt. Now we come to a question: Are titles important? (They are important.) Are they really important? For example, if your original name was John Smith, but you are now called James Clark, have you changed? Do you not remain you? This means that the title or name you use is not important. If it doesn’t matter, why dissect these words? I dissected these words so that people could gain an accurate view of the duty of spreading the gospel, accurately define what this duty actually is, and know how they should properly perform and treat this duty. It is first necessary for you to determine your own position within this duty. This is very important. Therefore, this title must be accurate.

I have just now roughly dissected several titles or terms referring to those who perform the duty of spreading the gospel. The titles and definitions of witnesses, preachers, and messengers of the gospel are all inaccurate. Why are they inaccurate? It is because the people that merely spread the gospel do not do any substantive work worthy of these names. They are not bearing witness to God’s deeds, God’s work, or God’s essence. This is not the work that they do, nor is it the duty they perform. Therefore, they are not worthy to be called by the title of witness. The title of preacher is also of this nature, to say nothing of messenger of the gospel. This last title is devoid of meaning, based on nothing at all. It is nothing but a lofty-sounding title people give to themselves. Where did the title messenger come from? Was it not produced by the inflation of man’s arrogant disposition? (Yes.) This is just the wish to give oneself a lofty title. These more substantive titles that superficially seem to be relevant to this sort of duty are not suitable. Some others are even less suitable and less appropriate, so we will not list and dissect them each in turn. Since these titles are inappropriate, let’s take a look at what actually constitutes the essence of the duty of spreading the gospel. In a religion, what do people call it when someone is won over through the spreading of the gospel? (Bearing fruit.) When those who spread the gospel win over a person, they say that they have borne a fruit. When they meet and talk, they always discuss how much fruit they have borne spreading the gospel in such and such a place. They measure themselves up against one another to see who has borne more fruit and of what sort these fruits are. Why do they make such comparisons? In superficially comparing the number of their fruits, what are they actually comparing? They are comparing merits and their qualifications for entering the kingdom of heaven. If they make such comparisons among themselves, do they see the work of spreading the gospel as their duty? Why do they place such importance on the fruit they bear? They believe that the fruits that they bear are somehow related to going to heaven, to receiving blessings, and to earning rewards. If these fruits have no connection to those things, would they make these comparisons whenever they meet? They would compare themselves in other respects. They would compare themselves in any respect related to receiving rewards and entering the kingdom of heaven. Because winning over people and bearing fruit when spreading the gospel relates to going to heaven and receiving rewards, in order to accomplish these things, people never get bored of comparing who has won over more people and borne more fruit when spreading the gospel. Then, in their hearts, they calculate ways to win over more people and bear more fruit so as to improve their qualifications and confidence when it comes to entering heaven and obtaining rewards. In this, the attitude of all sorts of people with regard to spreading the gospel becomes apparent. Is their attitude and motivation concerning spreading the gospel the desire to fulfill their duties as created beings? (No.) This is an incorrect point of view. Their goal is not to do their duties well, not to fulfill God’s commission, but to get rewards. Performing one’s duty in such a transactional manner is obviously not in conformity with the truth, but in violation of the truth. It is not in keeping with God’s will, but detestable to Him. Regardless of the amount of fruit borne by these people, it has no bearing on their final destinations. They regard spreading the gospel as a profession, as a way or a bridge to gain blessings and rewards. The intention of such people in performing their duties and accepting this commission is not to fulfill God’s commission or perform their duties well, but only to gain blessings and rewards. Therefore, for people such as these, no matter how much fruit they bear, they are neither witnesses nor preachers. The work they do is not the performance of a duty, but merely toil and service done in order to obtain blessings for themselves. The most serious problem here is not simply that their purpose in spreading the gospel is to obtain blessings and rewards, but that they use the fact that they win over people by spreading the gospel as a chip to be exchanged with God for rewards and the blessing of entry into heaven. Is this not a very serious problem? What is the essence of this problem? They are putting the gospel up for sale, “selling” it in exchange for blessings. Isn’t this the nature of the deal they hope to strike with God? This is the essence of their intentions, practices, and the nature of their actions. Selling the gospel in exchange for rewards seems to be the problem found among the so-called “preachers” in the religious world. So then, do those who are now performing the duty of spreading the gospel in God’s house share the same problem? (Yes.) What is the essential problem common to both? It is that they are selling the gospel in exchange for God’s satisfaction and affirmation so as to achieve their goal of obtaining blessings and of possessing that beautiful destination. When it is presented in this manner, some of you may not be convinced, but many people do in fact behave this way.

After winning over people, many among those who spread the gospel feel that they are capable of saving people and that they have performed a great service, and they often say to the people who have accepted the gospel from them: “If I had not preached the gospel to you, you would never have been able to believe in God. It was due to my loving heart that you were fortunate enough to receive the gospel.” And after those people have accepted the gospel from them, this same sort of person will always think to ask them, “Who was it that spread the gospel to you?” Those people will ponder this question and think, “It is true that you preached the gospel to me, but it was the work of the Holy Spirit—I cannot give you the credit for it.” And they will not want to respond. When they do not respond, the questioners will grow angry and continue to question them. What is the intention behind their constant questioning? They want to claim credit. Among those who spread the gospel, there are also some who will bring the gospel to someone, but refuse to hand them over to the church when that person satisfies the conditions for entering it. There are some spreaders of the gospel who will spread the gospel to several people and not give them over, and some who will spread the gospel to 20 or 30 people—enough to establish a church—and not hand them over either. Why do they not give these people over to the church? They say, “These people still do not have a very solid foundation. Let’s wait until they have a solid foundation, until they have no doubts, until they cannot be easily misled, then I will give them over to the church.” After half a year, these people will have something of a foundation and meet the principles for entering the church, but these spreaders of the gospel still will not give them over. They want to lead these people by themselves. What intention is behind this? If there was no profit to be gained from it, would they want to lead these people? What profit do they seek? They seek to obtain personal gain and advantages from these people. If they were to give these people over to the church, they could not obtain those benefits. So, you must have discernment of this problem. It is just like how many pastors and elders in the religious world know full well what the true way is, but do not accept it and do not allow the believers to accept it. In fact, they do this for their own prestige and profit. If the believers were to accept the true way, those pastors and elders would not be able to profit from their faith. Spreaders of the gospel such as these are afraid that, once their gospel recipients join the church, they will be forgotten and therefore no longer be able to profit from their faith. This is why they do not give these people over to the church. When will the spreaders of the gospel like this give over these people? Once all of those people listen to them and obey them, then they will give them over to the church. After these people enter the church, some of them who have fairly good humanity, pure comprehension, and love the truth will often listen to sermons and come to understand some truths, and thereby be able to discern these people who spread the gospel to them. They will then say, “That person seems to be an antichrist, like Paul.” The next time they meet, they will pay no heed to those spreaders of the gospel. When they are ignored, these spreaders will grow angry and say, “You are ungrateful! If I hadn’t spread the gospel to you, would you have come to believe in God? Would you have found the true way? Have you forgotten me, your mother, now that you have someone else to lead you?” They want to be seen as a mother. Do people who talk like this have reason? (No.) If someone can bring themselves to say this, they certainly aren’t any good. Why do I say this? When they spread God’s gospel, who do the people that they win over belong to? (God.) Although they may work hard to spread the gospel, the people they win over do not belong to them, but to God. Those who accept the gospel want to follow God, not believe in those who preached the gospel to them, but this kind of gospel spreader does not allow them to join the church and follow God. Instead, they want to keep these people in their grasp and control, and make these people follow them. Isn’t this the highway robbery of spreading the gospel? This kind of gospel spreader obstructs people from coming before God, making it so those people must go through them in order to come before God, and so that everything must be communicated through them. Aren’t they trying to profit off their faith? Don’t they want to control these people? (Yes.) What sort of behavior is this? It is purely the behavior of Satan! This means that an antichrist has shown their true colors, and they want to control the church and God’s chosen people. People of this sort can be found in churches everywhere. In serious cases, they may control dozens or even hundreds of people. In milder cases, when they preach the gospel to a few people, they will just constantly demand gratitude from them, bring up these people’s debt to them whenever they meet, and always mention things from the time when these people first came to believe. Why is it that they always mention such things? It is so that those people do not forget their kindness and do not forget whose preaching it was that enabled them to enter the house of God, and who the credit should go to. They harbor an aim in bringing up such matters, and if this is not achieved, they scold those people. What is the first thing they say to scold them? (That they are ungrateful.) Do these words of theirs have reason? (No.) Why do you say that they lack reason? (Because these gospel spreaders are not standing in their rightful place. Spreading the gospel is their duty, it is something that they are supposed to do. And yet, after bringing the gospel to people, they see it as a contribution that they have made, and not their duty.) They always think that they have made a contribution by spreading the gospel. This is wrong. In one respect, they are not standing in their rightful place. It is God who saves people, and people can only cooperate in this. What can a person accomplish if God does not work? In another respect, spreading the gospel to other people is not their contribution. They have made no great contribution, it is their duty. It is God who wants to gain people, gospel spreaders are merely cooperating with Him a bit. To save and gain people is God’s business, and it has nothing to do with the gospel spreaders. They cannot do these things. In spreading the gospel, they are just performing the job of transmitting it, they are simply sharing God’s gospel of the last days with other people. This cannot be said to be some kindness that they bestow on people, so if these people pay them no heed, they are not being ungrateful. Do such things not often occur while people are performing their duties of spreading the gospel? Has this kind of corruption been revealed in you? (It has.) Was it a severe revelation? Have you gone so far as to scold others? Have you gone so far as to hate others? Have you gone so far as wishing to curse and control people? You wish to dominate and control whoever receives the gospel from you. You want to take those people for yourself rather than give them over to God. You expect whoever receives the gospel from you to be your loyal progeny. Do you have such thoughts? Many people treat preaching the gospel like bearing fruit. They think that whoever receives the gospel from them becomes their fruit and their follower, and must follow them obediently and treat them like their God and their master. Do you think in this way? Even if you do not reach such a blatant extreme, you still possess this aspect of a corrupt disposition. Why is this? Basically, it comes down to those two points: In one respect, people do not stand in their proper place and do not know who they are. In another respect, they do not regard spreading the gospel as their duty. If you treat spreading the gospel as your duty, you will understand that no matter what you do, no matter how many people you preach to or how many people you win over, this is just performing the duty of a created being, that it is a responsibility and obligation you ought to fulfill, and that it is no great contribution to speak of. Understanding the matter in this way is in line with the truth. But why are some people who preach the gospel able to control those who receive the gospel from them and take those people as their own? It is because they are too arrogant and self-righteous by nature and they lack the slightest bit of reason. In addition, it is because they do not understand the truth and have not resolved this aspect of their corrupt disposition. That is why they can do such stupid, arrogant, and barbaric things that disgust other people and are loathed by God.

When people do something, when they possess a little capital or make a contribution, they want to show it off, they want to control people, they want to exchange what they have done for rewards or to secure a good destination. Some would go so far as to attempt to make a trade using God’s gospel. What trade do they want to make? Here is an example. When a person like this arrives at the house of a potential gospel recipient and sees that their family is poor, they think that they will probably not benefit from spreading the gospel to this person. Consequently, they feel uninterested in them or even discriminate against them. Whenever they see that person, they feel displeased, and they say to their leader, “That person won’t be able to believe in God. And even if they were to believe, they could not gain the truth.” This is the excuse they use to avoid spreading the gospel to them. Not long after, someone else goes to spread the gospel to this person, and they accept it. How can the first gospel spreader explain this? How could they say that this person won’t believe in God? How could they be so arbitrary? How could they know whether or not someone would believe if they didn’t spread the gospel to them? They couldn’t know. Why didn’t they win over this person? It is because they were prejudiced against that person, they looked down on them, and didn’t show a loving heart to them that they failed to win over that person. By performing their duty in that way, they were being negligent. They did not show a loving heart and they failed to fulfill their responsibility. Is this a credit or a demerit in God’s eyes? (A demerit.) It is absolutely a transgression. Why did this transgression come about? Isn’t it because they could not get any benefits from that gospel recipient? When they saw that spreading the gospel to that person would not profit them, they felt an aversion toward them and retaliated against them, not wanting to let them obtain salvation, and then finding all kinds of reasons and excuses to avoid spreading the gospel to them. This is a serious dereliction of duty and a serious transgression! Refusing to spread the gospel to someone when there is no profit to be obtained—what kind of attitude is this? Isn’t this a typical manifestation of a person selling the gospel? (Yes.) In what way are they selling the gospel? Explain the details and process. (That gospel spreader decided whether they wanted to spread the gospel to someone based on whether they could benefit from it. This is equivalent to treating God’s gospel as a commodity and selling it to obtain the benefits that one desires. When they saw that there were no benefits to be gained, they refused to spread the gospel.) They regard God’s gospel as their own private asset. If they see someone from a rich and powerful family who is well-fed and well-clothed, they think to themselves, “If I spread the gospel to them, I can stay in their house, and I can also have good food to eat and good clothes to wear,” and they then decide to preach the gospel to that person. What sort of behavior is this? This is a typical example of a person selling the gospel. This gospel spreader treats God’s gospel and the glad tidings of God’s new work as a commodity and as their own private asset, deceiving and tricking others at every turn in order to secure profit and whatever things they need for themselves. Is this performing one’s duty? This is called doing business and profiting from peddling the gospel. Peddling means selling things that one has by means of trade, and obtaining the money or material things one wants in exchange. So how do they peddle the gospel? It depends on whether they can obtain benefits from potential gospel recipients. What this means is, “I’ll spread the gospel to you if it’s beneficial to me. If there’s no profit in it for me, I’ll find an excuse not to preach it to you. It’ll just be a deal that didn’t work out.” Why didn’t this deal work out? It didn’t work out because the gospel spreader couldn’t profit from it. What do we call this type of person? They are called “traveling con men.” They have nothing real to offer, but go everywhere deceiving and tricking others, relying on their words to make them money and to obtain profits. By preaching the gospel in this way, are they performing their duty? They are purely doing evil. Their actions have nothing to do with performing their duty, because they do not regard spreading the gospel as their duty, and they do not see it as their responsibility or obligation, or as a commission entrusted to them by God. Rather, they see it as a job, a profession done in exchange for the things that they need, to satisfy their own interests, and to meet their own demands. There are even some people who don’t want to leave when they go to wealthy areas to preach the gospel, because they eat well, dress well, and stay in nice places there. They start crying in front of the gospel recipients about how poor they are, “See how God’s grace and blessings surround you here. Every family has its own car to drive, lives in its own modest mansion, and dresses well. You even eat meat every day. That’s not possible where we come from.” After hearing this, the gospel recipients say, “Since the place that you live is so impoverished, come and stay with us here often,” then, they give these gospel spreaders some things. This is a disguised form of soliciting and extorting money and material goods from people. What is their extortion based on? “We have preached God’s gospel to you, and gotten nothing in return. We have fulfilled God’s commission. You have received such great blessings, so you should repay God’s love and give us a little charity. Isn’t that what we deserve?” In this way, they use various means to secretly, directly, or indirectly extort material goods and money from people. They use spreading the gospel as an opportunity to seek personal benefits. The first manifestation of this is selling the gospel, which is the most serious in nature. The second manifestation is disguised extortion. Therefore, within the ranks of people who perform the duty of spreading the gospel, some people’s pockets imperceptibly begin to bulge while they are preaching the gospel, and they become affluent. Some people say, “Isn’t it good to be affluent? Isn’t this God’s blessing?” That is rubbish! You rely on your own tricks and devices to extort and swindle things from people, and then you claim that it is God’s blessing. What is the nature of such words? They are blasphemy against God. This is not God’s blessing. God does not bless people in this way. So why would an idea like this arise within someone? This is the result of their ambitions and their greedy, satanic nature.

Those who spread the gospel all suffer a great deal. Sometimes they are persecuted and mobbed by religious people, or even handed over to Satan’s regime. If they are a little incautious, they are likely to be arrested by the great red dragon. However, those who love the truth can approach such things correctly, whereas those who don’t love the truth will often complain about the slightest suffering. Some of those who spread the gospel have said things like this: “I preached the gospel to a person, and after talking for such a long time, he didn’t even give me a glass of water. I don’t want to preach to him.” Is it a problem that someone did not give them a glass of water? There is a kind of disposition hidden in the words of these spreaders of the gospel. The implication is that spreading the gospel is only worthwhile when it is enjoyable and profitable. If it involves suffering, or if they don’t even get a glass of water to drink, then it is not worthwhile. Within this, there is an intention to solicit something and to strike a deal. If there is always a transactional nature to the way that a person spreads the gospel, are they sincerely expending themselves for God? If they can’t even bear this little bit of suffering when performing their duty, and a little thing can cause them to become negative, can they perform their duty adequately? They will also say, “Not only was I not given any water, they didn’t give me any food at lunchtime.” Is it a problem if someone didn’t let these gospel spreaders stay and eat with them? They have been spreading the gospel for several years and they always pay attention to how people host them, what they give them to eat and drink, and what gifts they receive—why is this? Do they not know how to treat people who are investigating the true way? This is a problem with their character. Do they have even a little love for people in their hearts? And why do they still not understand the kinds of suffering those who spread the gospel should endure and how they should practice the truth? Why haven’t they put this into practice at all? Is it a problem if the people to whom you preach the gospel do not give you water to drink or food to eat? This is not a problem. Spreading the gospel to people is fulfilling our obligation; it is our duty. There are no additional conditions. The people to whom you preach are not obliged to feed you, wait on you, or smile at you. They do not have to listen to everything you say and obey you. They are under no such obligation. If you can think this way, that is objective and rational. Then, you will be able to regard these things correctly. So, how should someone who is investigating the true way be treated? As long as they conform to the principles of God’s house for spreading the gospel, we have an obligation to preach it to them; and even if their current attitude is poor and unaccepting, we must exercise patience. For how long and to what extent must we be patient? Until they reject you and do not let you into their house, and no discussion works, nor does calling them, or having someone else go invite them, and they do not acknowledge you. In this case, there is no way to spread the gospel to them. That is when you will have fulfilled your responsibility. That is what it means to perform your duty. However, so long as there is a bit of hope, you should think of every way you can and do your utmost to read God’s words and bear witness for His work to them. Say, for instance, you have been in contact with someone for two or three years. You have tried spreading the gospel and testifying for God to them many times, but they have no intention of accepting it. Yet their understanding is quite good, and they really are a potential gospel recipient. What should you do? First of all, you absolutely must not give up on them, instead you should maintain normal interactions with them, and keep reading God’s words to them and bearing witness for His work. Do not give up on them; be patient until the end. On some unknown day, they will wake up and feel it is time to investigate the true way. That is why practicing patience and persevering to the end is a very important aspect of spreading the gospel. And why do this? Because it is the duty of a created being. Since you are in contact with them, you have an obligation and a responsibility to preach God’s gospel to them. Many processes lie between them first hearing God’s words and the gospel up until they turn themselves around, and this takes time. This period calls for you to be patient and wait, until that day comes when they turn themselves around and you bring them before God, back to His house. This is your obligation. What is an obligation? It is a responsibility that cannot be shirked, to which one is honor-bound. It is just like how a mother treats her child. No matter how disobedient or mischievous the child may be, or if they are sick and will not eat, what is the mother’s obligation? Knowing that this is her child, she dotes on them, and loves them, and cares for them attentively. It makes no difference whether the child acknowledges her as their mother or not, and it does not matter how they treat her—she stays by their side all the same, protecting them, without leaving for an instant, constantly waiting for them to believe that she is their mother and for them to return to her embrace. In this way, she constantly watches over and cares for them. This is what responsibility means; this is what it means to be honor-bound. If those engaged in spreading the gospel would practice in this way, harboring this sort of loving heart for people, they would then be upholding the principles of spreading the gospel, and be entirely capable of achieving results. If they’re always making excuses and talking about their conditions, they will not be able to spread the gospel, and they will not be performing their duty. Some people who spread the gospel are always picky about potential gospel recipients having too many questions and difficulties and being poor in caliber, and as a result, they are unwilling to suffer and pay a price to win them over. But if their own parents and relatives have a lot of difficulties and poor caliber, they are still able to treat them with a loving heart. Doesn’t this mean that they are not treating people fairly? Do these people have loving hearts? Are they people who show consideration for the will of God? Absolutely not. When spreading the gospel, they always look for any reasons and excuses they can find based on objective conditions to not preach the gospel to people, or, no matter who they see, they do not find them pleasing and think them to be inferior to themselves, and they always feel that there is no one to preach the gospel to—as a result, they end up not bringing the gospel to a single person. Are there principles in spreading the gospel like this? Someone like this doesn’t consider God’s will or God’s requirements at all. Anyone who can acknowledge that God’s words are the truth and anyone who can accept the truth is a potential recipient of the gospel, unless they are obviously evil people or absurd types. If people would truly show consideration for God’s will, they would perform their duties and treat people with principles. No matter what problems people investigating the true way have or how much they reveal their corrupt dispositions, as long as they can acknowledge and accept the truth, you should tirelessly read God’s words to them and testify for God’s work. This is the principle that must be followed in spreading the gospel.

I have heard that some of those who spread the gospel do not have any love at all in their hearts. While dealing with the notions and questions of those who are investigating the true way, these spreaders of the gospel engage in fellowship multiple times. But when those people still do not understand and keep asking questions over and over again, these spreaders of the gospel can no longer bear it and start to lecture them. “You ask too many questions. You don’t understand the truth no matter how much I fellowship with you. Your caliber is too low, you don’t have the comprehension ability, and you can’t gain the truth and life. You are all service-doers.” Some people cannot bear to hear such words and become negative for a while. People differ from one to another. Some people see that God’s words are the truth when they investigate the true way. Even if they have some notions and problems, these are solved while they read God’s words. These people are so pure that they can easily accept the truth. They read God’s words by themselves, seek, and investigate, and then when someone fellowships with them, they willingly accept the true way and join the church. But other people have a lot of questions. They have to investigate until they find clarity in all respects. If there is just one point that they have not investigated until it is clear, they will not accept the true way. These people are careful and cautious in everything they do. Some of those who spread the gospel do not have any love in their hearts for such people. What is their attitude? “You can believe it or not! You will be no great loss to the house of God, nor will you be any great gain. If you don’t believe, just leave! How do you have so many questions? These have all been answered for you already.” In fact, these spreaders of the gospel do not answer the questions raised by these potential recipients of the gospel clearly, they do not fellowship on the truth clearly, they do not completely dispel the doubts in these people’s hearts, but they want them to abandon their notions and accept the gospel as quickly as possible. Is this something people can be forced to do even if they are unwilling? If someone says truthfully that they don’t understand, then you should read a few passages from God’s words to them concerning their problems and notions, and then fellowship on the truth to enable them to understand. Some potential gospel recipients like to get to the root of things. People like this want to find out everything. They aren’t making things difficult for you, they aren’t nitpicking or finding fault, they just take things seriously. When encountering such serious people, some of those who spread the gospel can’t answer them and feel that they have made a fool of themselves. Consequently, they do not want to fellowship with such people, saying, “I’ve been spreading the gospel for so many years, but I’ve never had such a thorn in my side!” These spreaders of the gospel call such people thorns in their side. In fact, these spreaders of the gospel have only half an understanding of any aspect of the truth, they speak about some grand doctrines and empty words and try to get people to accept them as the truth. Is this not making things hard for others? If others don’t understand and ask detailed questions, they are not happy, and say, “I’ve explained the three stages of God’s work to you, and I’ve explained them clearly. If you still can’t understand after I have said so much, you should read God’s words yourself to resolve your notions. The word of God is sitting right there. If you read and understand it, then believe. If you can’t understand it, then don’t believe!” After hearing this, the potential gospel recipients think, “If I continue to ask questions, I may lose out on my chance to be saved and not be able to receive blessings. I won’t ask questions then, I’ll just quickly go along with him and believe!” Afterward, these people keep attending gatherings and listen to sermons attentively, and they gradually come to understand some truths and gradually resolve their notions. Regardless of how their belief is going now, is this an appropriate way to spread the gospel? Can it be said that these spreaders of the gospel have fulfilled their responsibility? (It cannot.) In spreading the gospel, you must first fulfill your responsibility. You must follow your conscience and reason in doing all that you can and all that you ought. You must lovingly provide solutions to whatever notions the person investigating the true way may have or whatever questions they raise. If you really cannot provide a solution, you can find a few relevant passages of God’s words to read to them, or relevant clips about experiential testimony, or some relevant gospel testimony films to show them. It is entirely possible that this will be effective; at the very least you will be fulfilling your responsibility, and won’t feel accused by your conscience. But if you are perfunctory and muddle your way through, you are liable to delay things, and it will not be easy to win over that person. In spreading the gospel to others, one must fulfill their responsibility. How should the word “responsibility” be understood? How, precisely, should it be put into practice and applied? Well, you should understand that having welcomed the Lord and experienced God’s work in the last days, you have an obligation to bear witness for His work to those who thirst for His appearance. So, how are you to spread the gospel to them? Whether online or in real life, you should spread it in whatever way wins over people and is effective. Gospel-spreading is not something you do when you feel like it, something you do when you are in a good mood and do not do when you are not. Neither is it something done according to your preferences, with you deciding who receives preferential treatment, spreading the gospel to those you like and not spreading it to those you do not. The gospel should be spread according to God’s demands and to the principles of His house. You should fulfill the responsibility and duty of a created being, doing all that you are capable of to testify to the truths you understand, to the words of God, and to the work of God to those investigating the true way. That is how you fulfill the responsibility and duty of a created being. What should a person do as they are spreading the gospel? They should fulfill their responsibility, do all they can, and be willing to pay every price. It is possible that you have been preaching the gospel for a short time, lack sufficient experience, are not very eloquent, and do not have a high level of education. In fact, these things are not of critical importance. The most important thing is that you choose suitable passages from the word of God and fellowship on truths that hit home and can solve problems. Your attitude must be sincere and enable you to touch people, so that no matter what you say, potential gospel recipients are all willing to listen to you, especially when you talk about your real experiences and speak from the heart. If you can make the potential recipients of the gospel like you so that they willingly associate with you, willingly fellowship with you, and willingly listen to your testimony, then that is a success. They will then treat you as a confidant, and willingly listen to everything you say, they will find all aspects of the truth you choose to fellowship on to be good and very practical, and be able to accept them all. In this way, you can easily win them over. This is the wisdom you must possess if you spread the gospel. If you cannot help people with a loving heart and you cannot be a confidant to others, you will find it too much of an effort to spread the gospel and win people over. Why is it that those who speak simply and openly, those who are straightforward and warm-hearted are so effective in spreading the gospel? It is because everyone likes gospel spreaders like this, and they are willing to interact and build friendships with them. If gospel spreaders like this understand the truth and fellowship on the truth in a particularly practical and clear manner, if they can patiently fellowship the truth with others, solve the various problems, difficulties, and perplexities that people have, brighten up their hearts, and bring great comfort to them, people will like and trust them in their hearts, take them as a confidant, and listen willingly to anything they say. If a gospel spreader always puts themselves on a pedestal and lectures others, treating them like children and students, people will likely see them as annoying and repulsive. Therefore, the wisdom you should possess to spread the gospel is this: First, make a good impression on others, speaking in a way that is agreeable to your listeners. After listening to you, they should be able to gain something from it, and receive some benefit. In this way, your spreading of the gospel will be smooth sailing, encounter no obstacles, and achieve fruitful results. Even though some people may not accept the gospel, they will see that you are a good person and willingly associate with you. Those who preach the gospel should be able to socialize with people. Making a wide range of friends is a good road to take. Additionally, there is still one thing of the utmost importance. No matter who you preach the gospel to, you must first do a lot of prep work. You must equip yourself with the truth, master principles, have the ability to discern people, and employ wise methods. You must persistently practice doing this prep work. First of all, in your conversations with people who are investigating, you must understand and grasp their backgrounds, what denominations they belong to, what their primary notions are, whether they are introverts or extroverts, how their comprehension abilities are, and how their characters are. This is the key thing. Once you have a firm grasp of potential gospel recipients in all respects, your preaching of the gospel will be much more effective, and you will know how to prescribe the right medicine to resolve their notions and problems. If you encounter temptations from evil people, atheists, or devils, you will be able to sense them, discern them for who they are, and hurriedly abandon them. Reading God’s words can reveal all kinds of people. Evil people and atheists will be repulsed when they hear them, and devils hate to listen to God’s words. Only those who thirst for the truth will be interested. They will seek the truth and ask questions. This is how you can confirm that they are potential gospel recipients. Once we confirm this, we can engage them in systematic fellowship on the truth. When fellowshipping on the truth, we can fully grasp the caliber of these potential gospel recipients, how well they can comprehend the truth, and the state of their characters. In this way, we will know which people to work on and how to fellowship on the truth. No matter how much effort we put in, it will not be in vain. In the process of spreading the gospel, if you do not understand and grasp the situation of the other party and do not prescribe the right medicine, it will not be easy to win over people. Even if you do happen to win over a few people, it will only be by chance. Those who understand the truth and see to the bottom of things are able to take fewer wrong turns when spreading the gospel or avoid taking them entirely. They preach to the people they should and do not preach to the people they should not. They make an accurate assessment before preaching and avoid doing useless work. In this way, they do their duty with greater efficiency and less wasted effort, achieving good results. So, if you want to spread the gospel effectively, equip yourself with the truth and do enough prep work. What if you meet a religious person who knows the Bible well, but you haven’t read the Bible? What can you do? At that time, it’s too late for you to equip yourself with the truth of the Bible, so you should quickly introduce them to a gospel spreader who understands the Bible. Give this person over to whoever understands the Bible. This is in line with the truth principles. If you try to blindly show off by preaching the gospel to them anyway, this person will not accept the gospel. This result will be caused by your irresponsibility. In addition, you have to find the time to equip yourself with some knowledge of the Bible when you are not working. Spreading the gospel without knowing anything about the Bible is not very workable. Many of the questions raised by investigators involve the words in the Bible. If you understand the Bible, you can use the truth of the Bible to resolve these questions. No matter what notions the potential gospel recipients hold, you can find the corresponding Bible verses and words of God to resolve their notions. The desired result can only be achieved in this way. Therefore, spreading the gospel requires some knowledge of the Bible. For example, you should know which prophecies in the Old Testament and which verses in the New Testament testify to God’s return and God’s work in the last days. You should read these words more, ponder them more, and keep them in your heart. In addition, you must understand how religious people understand these Bible verses, ponder how to fellowship so as to lead them to an accurate and pure understanding of these verses, and then incorporate these verses of the Bible to guide them to an understanding of God’s work in the last days. Is this doing your prep work? This is exactly what it means to do prep work. You have to understand the needs of the different kinds of people who investigate the true way, and then do some prep work according to the situation. Only then will you be able to do all that you can and fulfill your responsibilities. This is your responsibility. Some people will say, “I don’t need to do all that. I just need to read the Bible a few times. No matter who I spread the gospel to, I always say the same things. The words I use to preach the gospel are fixed and do not change. I will use these words and they can believe or not. The people that don’t believe won’t receive blessings. They can’t put that on me. After all, I’ve fulfilled my responsibility.” Did they fulfill their responsibility? What is the situation of the person investigating, what is their age, education level, marital status, hobbies, personality, humanity, family situation, and so on? You don’t know any of this, but you still go and preach to them. You have not done any prep work and made no effort at all. And you still claim to have fulfilled your responsibility? Isn’t this just fooling people? Treating your duty like this shows a perfunctory and irresponsible attitude. It is a cursory attitude. You preach the gospel with such an attitude and, when you don’t win someone over, you say, “If he doesn’t believe, that’s just his bad luck. Besides, he lacks spiritual understanding, so even if he did believe, he wouldn’t be able to gain the truth or be saved!” This is irresponsible. You are shirking your responsibility. You obviously didn’t do your prep work well. It is obvious that you didn’t fulfill your responsibility, that you didn’t do your duty loyally. And you still make excuses by giving all kinds of reasons, trying to shirk your responsibility with words. What kind of behavior is this? It’s called deception. To shirk your responsibility, you make judgments and draw conclusions about people and talk irresponsible nonsense. This is called arrogance and self-righteousness, insidiousness and viciousness. It is also called deception. It is trying to deceive God.

If God has entrusted to you the duty of spreading the gospel, you should accept God’s commission, deferentially and submissively. You should endeavor to treat every person who is investigating the true way with love and patience, and you should be able to bear hardship and toil. Be diligent in taking responsibility for sharing the gospel; provide clear fellowship about the truth, so that you may give account of it to God. This is the attitude with which one should perform their duty. If someone investigating the true way seeks the truth from you, and you brush them aside, are unable to earnestly fellowship about the truth to them and resolve their problem, and even find excuses, saying, “I’m not in the mood now. Whoever they are, however much they thirst for the truth or for God’s appearance and work, it’s not my business. It’s not on me whether they can believe. If the Holy Spirit doesn’t go to work, no matter how much prep work I do, it will be of no use—so I won’t make that effort! Anyway, I’ve already said all the truths I understand. Whether they can accept the true way, that’s God’s affair. It has nothing to do with me,” then what attitude is this? It is an irresponsible attitude, a hardened one. Are there not many who spread the gospel in this way? Can such gospel-spreading meet an adequate standard? Can it exalt God and bear witness to Him? No, not in the least. Such gospel-spreading is merely a bit of service; it comes nowhere near the performance of a duty. So, how can one spread the gospel adequately? No matter who it is investigating the true way, you must first do prep work and equip yourself with the truth, then rely on love, patience, tolerance, and a sense of responsibility to perform this duty of yours well. Be unadulterated and do all you can and ought to do. Spreading the gospel in this way is adequate. If circumstances do not allow you to spread the gospel, or if the person investigating refuses to listen and leaves, this is not your fault. You have done what you should do, and your conscience will not accuse you. This means that you have fulfilled your responsibility. Some people may meet the principles for spreading the gospel, but the timing may not be right. It is not yet God’s time. In this case, the work of spreading the gospel must be set aside for the time being. Does setting aside the work mean that you do not spread the gospel to the person? It does not mean that you do not spread the gospel, only that you wait for the appropriate time to do so. What other people should not be preached to? For example, when a person speaks in tongues—not for a day or two, or even a year or two—but for a long time, and can speak this way at any time and in any place, this person is an evil spirit and the gospel cannot be spread to them. There are also people who appear to be good people on the outside, but upon inquiry and with further understanding, you discover that they have committed adultery with many people. If the gospel is spread to people such as these, it will cause much trouble. They will be likely to cause disturbance for God’s chosen people, so the gospel must not be preached to them. There are also some religious pastors who require too much effort to accept the truth. Even if they are willing to accept it, they still have conditions. They are only content to serve as leaders and workers. Most people of this sort are antichrists. According to the principles, the gospel should not be spread to them. Only if they are willing to render the service of spreading the gospel and are able to bring in many others is it permitted to spread the gospel to people like this. If someone’s humanity is too evil, and you can tell that they are an evil person by their appearance alone, then this sort of person will never accept the truth and will never repent. Even if someone like this entered the church, they would be expelled, so the gospel should never be spread to them. Preaching to someone like this would be tantamount to bringing Satan, bringing a devil into the church. Another situation comes up when some minors are willing to believe in God. However, in some democratic countries, minors must obtain the consent of their guardians if they want to participate in church life and perform their duties. Do not ignore this requirement. It calls for a reasonable solution, and wisdom is needed. In China, as long as one of the parents leads such a minor to believe in God, there is no problem at all. If a young adult who is no longer a minor can comprehend the truth and wants to believe in God, but their parents oppose and limit them, the young adult can leave their family and come to the church to believe in and follow God free from the restrictions and obstacles of their parents. This is completely proper. This is the same situation as Peter’s when he came to believe in God. In conclusion, regardless of the situation, it is permitted to spread the gospel as long as the objective conditions permit and it does not violate the law. This matter needs to be approached according to the truth principles and the dictates of wisdom.

When spreading the gospel, how can someone perform their duty adequately? First, they must be able to comprehend and understand the truth concerning spreading the gospel. Only when they understand the truth can they possess the correct views, know how to deal with wrong or absurd views, and know how to handle affairs and deal with problems in accord with the truth principles. Then, they will be able to discern various incorrect practices and practices of antichrists that violate the truth principles. As such, they will naturally understand which truth principles should be mastered in order to perform their duty of spreading the gospel. To perform this duty, what truth is it of the utmost importance to understand first? You must understand that spreading the message of God’s work is the responsibility and obligation of each of God’s chosen people. It is a commission that God has entrusted to all. This is the source of this duty. Some people say, “I’m not on the gospel team, so do I have this responsibility and obligation?” They all have this responsibility and obligation. The truth concerning this aspect of duty is useful to everyone. I do not know if you have noticed a certain phenomenon in the allocation of various personnel in the church. Some people were once leaders, but they were then replaced because they could not do practical work. After being replaced, as they did not possess any skills or expertise, they could not perform special duties. So finally, they were assigned to the gospel team to spread the gospel, or to water newcomers, or to perform some ordinary duties. If they likewise fail to fulfill any other duties in the church, what should happen to them? Such people are refuse and should be cast out. So, if you are dismissed as a church leader for incompetence and you don’t have any special talents or skills, then you have to be prepared to spread the gospel. If you can spread the gospel and do your duty as part of the gospel team, then the truth about performing duties adequately is relevant to you. If you fail to perform your duty of spreading the gospel, the truth about performing duties adequately has no relevance to you, and in God’s house, during the time of God’s work, the work of performing a duty is no concern of yours. In your heart, you should clearly know all that this implies. If you do not perform any duty, what relationship do you have with the work of God? Therefore, regardless of the type of duty one performs, it is, naturally, best if they can persevere to the end and perform their duty well. Some people say, “I don’t want to spread the gospel because this always brings me into contact with strangers. There are all sorts of bad people who are capable of all manner of bad things. In particular, religious people treat those who spread God’s gospel of the last days as enemies and are quite capable of handing them over to Satan’s regime. They are worse than the unbelievers. I could not bear this pain. They might beat me to death, maim me, or hand me over to the great red dragon. That would finish me.” Since you can’t bear the hardship and your stature is so small, you should do the work of your current job well. That would be the wise choice. Of course, it would be even better if you could perform various duties as well as spreading the gospel. Spreading the gospel is not only the responsibility of the members of the gospel team, it is the responsibility of everyone. Because everyone has heard the good news and glad tidings of God’s new work from God, everyone has the responsibility and obligation to proclaim this gospel so that more people will come to God’s house upon hearing the good news and come before God to accept His salvation. This will allow the work of God to reach its conclusion as soon as possible. Such is God’s commission, such is His will.

Some of those who spread the gospel busily preach the gospel all day long, yet fail to win over a single person after several years of preaching. What has happened? They look so busy, and it seems that they do their duty with great care. So why didn’t they win anyone over? The truth that must be understood for the duty of spreading the gospel is actually similar to the truths that must be understood for other duties. If someone preaches the gospel for several years without winning over anyone, it means that this person has problems. What are these problems? The primary problem is that they do not fellowship clearly on the truth of the vision in spreading the gospel. Why is their fellowship unclear? Either it is because their caliber is too poor for this, or else it is because they are so busy all day that they have no time to read God’s words or to ponder on the truth, and they do not understand anything of the truth, and cannot resolve any notions, heresies, or fallacies. If both of these things are the case, can this person fulfill their duty to spread the gospel? I fear it will be very difficult for them to win people over. No matter how many years they work at spreading the gospel, they will see no obvious results. To spread the gospel, you must first understand the truth of the vision. No matter what questions people ask, as long as you fellowship on the truth so that it becomes clear, you can answer their questions. If you don’t understand the truth of the vision and cannot speak clearly no matter how you fellowship, then however you spread the gospel, you will not get results. If you do not understand the truth, you should focus on seeking the truth and fellowshipping on the truth. If you read more of God’s words, listen to more sermons, fellowship more on the truth of spreading the gospel, and always work hard at fellowshipping on the truth of the vision so as to truly understand the truth of the vision, and to be able to solve the most common notions and problems of religious people, then you will be able to achieve some results, rather than no results at all. Therefore, the failure to understand the truth of the vision of God’s work is one reason why people cannot achieve results when spreading the gospel. In addition, you cannot grasp or understand the questions raised by those investigating the true way, and you can’t see into their hearts to find where their biggest problems lie and determine the main problems hindering their acceptance of the true way. If you can’t be sure about these problems, then you can’t spread the gospel or testify for God to other people. If you only practice preaching the gospel using empty theories, it will not work. Once the people investigating start to ask questions, you will not be able to answer them. You will only be able to perfunctorily brush them off by talking about some doctrines. Will spreading the gospel in this way win people over? Certainly not. Many times, when those who are investigating cannot readily accept the true way, it is because you do not give clear answers to their questions. In this case, they will wonder why it is that you, who have believed for so long, can’t give a clear explanation to these questions. In their hearts, they will doubt whether this is the true way, so they will not dare to believe or accept it. Is this not the true situation? This is the second reason why people may not achieve results when spreading the gospel. If you want to spread the gospel but can’t solve actual problems, then you have no way to spread the gospel to people. If you don’t understand the truth, how can you solve their problems? Therefore, if you want to achieve results in spreading the gospel, you must work hard to seek the truth and thoroughly understand all the questions raised by the people investigating. In this way, you can answer their questions by engaging in fellowship on the truth with them. Some spreaders of the gospel always look for some objective reason that can serve as an excuse, saying, “These people are so difficult to deal with. Each one is more prone to distortions than the last, and none of them accept the truth. They are rebellious and stubborn, and they always cling to religious notions.” Such spreaders of the gospel will not work hard to solve the difficulties and problems of these people, so they will fail each and every time they try to spread the gospel. They lack the least bit of love and cannot persevere very long in this duty. From the outside, it looks like they are very busy, but in fact, they have not made enough of an effort for each person who is investigating the true way. They do not treat the questions these people ask in a serious and responsible manner. They do not seek the truth to find a solution, resolve these questions step by step, and finally win over those people. Instead, they just muddle along. No matter how many people they lose out on, they still stick with the same approach. They work for a few days, and then take a few days off. What do they make of spreading the gospel? They make it into a game, a type of social interaction. They think, “Today I will meet this sort of people and have a lively good time. Tomorrow I will meet that sort of people, and it will be new and interesting.” In the end, they will never win over anyone. They never feel any reproach or any sense of burden due to this failure to win anyone over. By spreading the gospel in this way can they fulfill their duty? Are they not being perfunctory and trying to deceive God? Someone who has always spread the gospel in this way is not truly performing their duty because they have not fulfilled their responsibility at all. They are perfunctory about everything. What other reasons cause a failure to win over people when spreading the gospel? Tell Me. (Not spreading the gospel according to the principles.) It does occur that people only care about numbers when spreading the gospel. Such people do not preach according to the principles and often fail to win people over. It also occurs that some people on the gospel team eagerly fight over potential gospel recipients, thinking that the one who spreads the gospel to more people will earn more credit. When potential gospel recipients see them compete in this way, they will not be edified. Instead, notions will arise in their minds, “You believers in God are not united, there is jealousy and strife among you.” Then, they will not want to believe. This is a stumbling block. Is this also part of the reason why they fail to win over people when spreading the gospel? (Yes.) Some potential gospel recipients have lived in society for a long time and are on guard against all kinds of people, especially strangers. If there is no intermediary to make an introduction, they will be wary when they first meet someone. For example, if you have just met a stranger, you will certainly not casually tell them your name, address, and phone number. When you become familiar with them, when you get to know each other, when you know that they have no ill will toward you, you will become friends. Only then would you give them this information. However, some of those who spread the gospel cannot understand people, so when people are wary of them, they call these people deceitful and wicked. They condemn their defensive mindset, shifting their own responsibility to others. Are those gospel spreaders not also wary of strangers? Why do they not condemn themselves, but think themselves wise in being wary? It’s not fair to treat people in this way. Some of those who spread the gospel ask potential gospel recipients for their personal information as soon as they meet them. If someone doesn’t want to give it to them, this sort of gospel spreader will not want to preach to this person. What sort of disposition is this? It is a malicious disposition. They become angry and refuse to preach the gospel just because someone doesn’t comply with their requirements in such a small matter. How despicable! Why do you want to spread the gospel to others? Is this not doing your duty? If you act as you please, is this still doing your duty? Isn’t this purely rendering service? How should you give an account of yourself to God? If you never repent, God will condemn you and cast you out. You are bringing trouble upon yourself.

I heard of a case where members of two gospel teams met one potential gospel recipient. Then, they argued with each other, both claiming that they were the ones who contacted this person first. What is the use of fighting over this? Is this a matter of ignorance? This is something that cannot be done. So, what is the proper thing to do? Everyone has to discuss the matter together. It doesn’t matter who was the first to make contact. When you find that you have come into contact with the same person, spread the gospel together, divide the work, and cooperate together. If you originally planned to spend two months bringing the gospel to this person, try to do it in only one month since you have more people. Then, everyone should fellowship on the problems and difficulties of the potential gospel recipient, about which aspects of the truth everyone needs to seek in order to solve these issues, on how the two teams should coordinate, and so on. What is the purpose of doing this? It is to win over this person and fulfill your duty. When everyone is of one heart and mind, fellowships together, and directs all their efforts to the same goal, the Holy Spirit will enlighten and lead them. When they are united, people can easily accomplish things, and they will receive God’s blessings and guidance. However, if you don’t act in this way, if you always compete against others, if you are always managing your own business, if you always draw a clear line between yourself and others, and if you only care about winning over people yourself when spreading the gospel—you preach for you, and I’ll win over people on my own—can you fulfill your duty with one heart and one mind? Sometimes people can do their duties on their own, but other times everyone needs to work together harmoniously in order to properly perform the work of the church. If everyone acts on their own and does not cooperate harmoniously, this will mess up the work of the church. Who will take responsibility for this? Everyone is responsible, and the main supervisor bears a larger share of the responsibility. When you mess up the work of the church, you not only fail to do your duty properly, but also commit a great evil, incurring God’s detestation and revulsion. Then you have gotten into trouble. If God condemns you as an evil person or an antichrist who disturbs the work of the church, it will be even worse. You will certainly be revealed and cast out, and you will even have to receive punishment. If you abandon your duty, what is this equivalent to? You will have no share in God’s work and will not receive God’s salvation. You will belong to the unbelievers, and your life will lose its meaning. What are you living for today? What value do you bring to the gospel team? How can you reflect your value as an individual? You must fulfill your responsibilities in a down-to-earth manner, do your duty well, and be able to give assurances to God, saying, “I have won over some people by spreading the gospel. I have done everything in my power. Although I am of poor caliber and only possess a few truth realities, I have done the best I could. I have done my duty without throwing in the towel, getting upset, feeling negative and slacking off, or trying to gain fame or profit. Instead, I have suffered more than a little humiliation in preaching the gospel, endured insults and expulsions from religious circles, and made my bed in the street. Although I have experienced negativity and weakness, I did not abandon my duty, but persevered in spreading the gospel at all times. I thank God for the protection and guidance He gave me.” This is what it means to truly fulfill your responsibilities. When the day comes, you will be able to come before God with a clear conscience like this and give an account of yourself. Maybe you met many potential gospel recipients, but did not win over many people. However, based on your caliber and your actions, you won over all the people you could by giving it your best effort. In this case, how will God evaluate you? You have performed your duty adequately. You have tried your best and put your whole heart into it. In order to spread the gospel to potential gospel recipients, you have worked hard to equip yourself with the truth of the vision, and familiarized yourself with the relevant verses of the Bible. You memorized what you needed to memorize and wrote down what you couldn’t memorize. When spreading the gospel, no matter who you met and what questions they asked, you were able to provide a solution. This way, your work spreading the gospel became more and more effective and you were able to win over more people. In order to win over more people when spreading the gospel, in order to perform this duty well and fulfill your responsibilities, you overcame many difficulties in yourself, including your own shortcomings, weaknesses, and negative emotions. All of this you overcame, and you dedicated much time to this task. Is it not necessary to overcome such difficulties in order to perform your duty well? (It is.) Furthermore, in order to bring those investigating the true way to hear God’s voice, to understand and know God’s work, and to accept the true way, you need to understand more of the truth so that you may better testify to God’s work. No matter how deep or shallow your fellowship on the truth is, you should have love and patience. Maybe your listeners ridicule you, insult you, reject you, or do not understand you—no matter, if you can deal with this correctly and patiently fellowship on the truth with them, and you have invested a great deal of effort and paid a high price to this end, then you have fulfilled your responsibilities. Doing your duty this way is doing it adequately.

When some gospel spreaders meet a potential gospel recipient who is arrogant due to their family’s wealth and social status, they always feel inferior and uncomfortable when standing before them. Will this discomfort affect your performance of your duty? If it affects you so that you are unable to do your duty well and cannot fulfill your responsibilities, then you are not performing your duty. If it only affects your frame of mind—making you unhappy and uncomfortable—but you do not abandon your duty or forget your responsibilities and obligations, so that, in the end, you complete your work and do it well, then you have truly fulfilled your duty. Is this the truth? (Yes.) This is the truth, and everyone should accept it. Is this a situation you may find yourself in? For instance, some gospel recipients may look down on you because you come from the countryside. They may even belittle you. How do you deal with this? You say, “I was born in poverty out in the countryside, while you were born to a life of privilege in the city. This was ordained by God. However, God is gracious regardless of where we are born. We live in this era, and we are all blessed to have caught up with God’s work in the last days.” These words are the truth, not an attempt to ingratiate yourself. The gospel recipients will say, “Then you are not as blessed as we are. We enjoy this world and the next, but you can only enjoy the next life. Therefore, we enjoy more than you.” You say, “This is all by God’s grace.” As they do not know God’s work, is it necessary to dispute with them? If you don’t value such things, you will not argue with them. In your heart, you should clearly understand that “I have a duty in my heart, a burden on my shoulders, a mission and an obligation. I won’t argue with them about that. Come the day that they believe and return to the house of God, when they have heard more sermons and understand something of the truth, they will think of their conduct and actions today and be ashamed.” If you think about it this way, your heart will open up. This is actually what happens. If you truly win them over and they really pursue the truth, then after believing for three or five years, they will recognize that it was inappropriate, lacking in humanity, and inconsistent with the truth to treat you as they did when they first met you. They will then have to apologize to you the next time they see you. In the process of spreading the gospel, you will encounter this sort of situation often. When this happens, how do I deal with it? I do not pay much attention to such things. It’s not a big deal. If you do not think it is a big deal, then their words will not bother you. This is called possessing stature. If you understand the truth and possess the truth reality, you will be able to see through many sayings or practices that supposedly cause harm to people. You will be able to iron them out. However, if you can’t see through these things, you will remember such words and actions for a lifetime and, with a wink, a word, or a gesture, anyone may injure you. How severe are such injuries? They will leave a mark on your heart. When you see wealthy people, people with higher status than you, or people like those who once looked down on you and attacked you, you will be afraid and timid. How can you do away with this timidity? You have to see through to their essence. No matter how grand they are, no matter what status or standing they hold, they are nothing but corrupt people. There is nothing special about them. If you see this, your heart will not be restrained. In the work of spreading the gospel, you will certainly encounter these problems. They are all common problems. Some people will not understand you or will be prejudiced against you, or even hintingly and indirectly say ugly things to ridicule you. Some people will say that you preach the gospel to make money, to seek profit, or to find romance. How would you handle such situations? Should you argue with such people? Especially when a potential gospel recipient comes from a family with money, what should you do if you are eating a meal in their house and see that look on their face? If, to maintain your dignity, you do not eat at their house, can you continue to preach the gospel on an empty stomach? You should consider the matter like this: “Today I can eat at their house and spread the gospel to them. They can receive those who spread the gospel. This is their good fortune.” In fact, this is how things actually are. This is their good fortune. They don’t realize it, but you need to know this in your heart. While spreading the gospel, one will often encounter such ridicule, mockery, sneers, and slander, or even find themselves in dangerous situations. Some brothers and sisters, for instance, are denounced or abducted by evil people, and the police are called on others, who are handed over to the government. Some may be arrested and jailed, while others may even be beaten to death. These are all things that happen. But now that we know about these things, should we change our attitude toward the work of spreading the gospel? (No.) Spreading the gospel is everyone’s responsibility and obligation. At any time, regardless of what we hear, or what we see, or what kind of treatment we encounter, we must always uphold this responsibility of spreading the gospel. Under no circumstances can we give up on this duty because of negativity or weakness. The duty to spread the gospel is not smooth sailing, but fraught with danger. When you spread the gospel, you will not face angels, or aliens, or robots. You will face only evil and corrupt humanity, living demons, beasts—they are all humans surviving in this evil space, this evil world, who have been deeply corrupted by Satan, and resist God. Therefore, in the process of spreading the gospel, there are certainly all sorts of dangers, to say nothing of petty slander, sneers, and misunderstandings, which are common occurrences. If you truly regard spreading the gospel as a responsibility, as an obligation, and as your duty, then you will be able to regard these things correctly and even handle them correctly. You will not give up on your responsibility and your obligation, nor will you deviate from your original intention to spread the gospel and testify to God because of these things, and you will never put this responsibility aside, for this is your duty. How should this duty be understood? It is the value and primary obligation of human life. Spreading the good news of God’s work in the last days and the gospel of God’s work is the value of human life.

Today, we are fellowshipping on the truth of performing one’s duty to spread the gospel. Have you gained anything from this? (Yes.) In the past, our fellowship on the truth of spreading the gospel focused on vision, that is, we expressly fellowshipped on the truth related to the vision and did not discuss many detailed issues as we are today. Because most people know something about the general outline of the truth of the vision, but may not be clear on the detailed practice paths and principles for specific issues, today I bring these specific issues into our fellowship. Through fellowship on some cases and people’s behavior—or the right and wrong things to do when someone encounters these situations, the viewpoints people hold, and how they should fulfill this responsibility, this obligation—through fellowship on all these topics, do you find that the truth of spreading the gospel becomes more concrete and easier to implement in real life? I believe that, after listening to this aspect of the truth, your hearts will become much brighter. When you encounter certain specific problems in the process of spreading the gospel, you will benefit from these words because they are practical and touch on the truth principles. They are not empty words. In your daily life, when you encounter such matters related to spreading the gospel and live in some incorrect states, or when you encounter some problems in your work of spreading the gospel, can you use these truths to solve the problems you face? If you can solve such problems, then today’s words are not spoken in vain. If you still cannot solve such problems, or if you do things your own way, make your own decisions and stick to them, do whatever you want, and act willfully and recklessly without considering your duties and responsibilities, then these truths are just empty talk to you and serve for nothing. They serve for nothing not because the truth can’t help you, not because the truth is of no benefit to you, but because you have no love for the truth at all and you don’t practice the truth. You see the duty of spreading the gospel merely as a hobby or a way to pass the time. If you approach the duty of spreading the gospel with this point of view, what will happen? Will you be able to perform your duty adequately? (No.) If talking of performing your duty adequately seems a bit distant, then let Me first ask you this: If you approach the duty of spreading the gospel with this point of view, can you satisfy the will of God? (No.) This should be clear in all of your hearts. When you approach this duty with this kind of viewpoint and this sort of attitude, your heart will feel unsteady. You will think that your attitude is not as God would like. If you act in this way, even if you win over some people and it looks like you are doing good deeds on the outside, your intentions and motives for performing your duty are contrary to the truth principles. You are just like those religious people who spread the gospel in order to obtain blessings and make deals with God. Such an intention and source of motivation are wrong. When considering how people perform their duties, God judges people’s intentions and motives. God observes the attitudes and mindsets with which people approach their duties. Based on this, God works to cleanse people of corruption and save them so they can break away from sin. Therefore, no matter how you spread the gospel, you should accept God’s scrutiny. No matter what kind of person you are, of what caliber you are, what sort of duty you have performed, and what your duty was before you joined the ranks of those who spread the gospel, you should abide by these truth principles of spreading the gospel, you should see spreading the gospel as your duty and responsibility, and take it upon your shoulders.

Some leaders and workers who cannot do practical work or solve practical problems are replaced and assigned to spread the gospel as part of the gospel team. They might say to everyone they meet, “I was a leader. I was sent to the gospel team to spread the gospel because I didn’t do a good job. Maybe God is having me spread the gospel to temper me for a time, to equip me with the truth and train me. That means I don’t have to put that much effort into spreading the gospel. Whatever I do is fine. After all, I am leader material. Once I grow in stature, I must be made a leader. As I am of such good caliber, it would be a waste of talent if I were not a leader. Right now the church has a shortage of leaders and workers!” Their words imply that God’s house can’t do without them as leaders. They are only made to spread the gospel in order to give them the opportunity to practice, to equip them with the truth, and to have them do some grassroots work as a part of their cultivation and training. Therefore, they view their duty to spread the gospel as something temporary, they are only doing it to pad their resumes, have a good time, and broaden their horizons. They think that, if they achieve results in spreading the gospel, understand the truth, and are able to do some work, they will be promoted to serve as a leader or worker. If they adopt this mindset toward performing their duty to spread the gospel, can they achieve true repentance? They have not reflected on themselves or come to know themselves. They have no self-awareness. Are these people in trouble? They don’t correctly comprehend spreading the gospel. They think too highly of themselves; they really don’t know themselves at all! They are completely unaware of what is actually going on. In fact, this has happened because they are not people who pursue the truth and they completely lack any comprehension ability. Superficially, they are articulate, they enjoy handling affairs, and it seems like they have some caliber, but when they serve as leaders and workers, their character and caliber are not up to scratch. They cannot meet the standards and criteria to be leaders and workers, so they are cast out. They don’t see that they are a dime a dozen, but instead shamelessly boast and puff themselves up. Although some people will never say it, in their personal estimation they believe only those who can’t do anything else are assigned to spread the gospel. In their hearts, they divide all duties in the house of God into high, middle, and low. They regard the duty of spreading the gospel as the most lowly of all the duties in the house of God. Whoever makes a mistake or does not perform their duty adequately is sent to spread the gospel. This is how these people understand this duty. Is there any difference between this understanding and taking spreading the gospel as one’s responsibility and the obligation to be fulfilled in one’s life? If someone understands it this way, can they do their duty well? (No.) Where did they go wrong? They regard a person’s greatest responsibility and the obligation they should fulfill in their life—the work of spreading the gospel—as the humblest work. They don’t take it as their own responsibility and obligation, and they don’t understand it as a duty. No matter how the house of God fellowships on the necessity of loyally performing one’s duty and that spreading the gospel is one of these duties, they do not recognize that this is the case. In their heart, they believe that the various levels of leaders, workers, and people in charge in the house of God are at the top. They have absolute authority and will ultimately receive great rewards and be perfected by God. The followers under them are only foot soldiers, especially the spreaders of the gospel who always interact with people outside the church. Among all the jobs, their work may be the hardest and the most exhausting. In the end, you can’t say for sure whether these people will be perfected. Is it their fault that they conceive of the duty of spreading the gospel in this way? Are there those who regard this sacred responsibility and obligation of spreading the gospel as the humblest chore and place it at the lowest rung of a hierarchy of ranks and grades? They look down on this duty and they also look down on those who perform it. So what viewpoint do they bring with them when they do this duty? (They view it as temporary.) Anything else? When they win someone over, they don’t think much of it, and when they fail to win someone over, they don’t care. They don’t regard spreading the gospel as a part of their own work and do not make every effort to perform this duty well. In their hearts, they look down on the duty of spreading the gospel, so what will be the result of their work at spreading the gospel? Can they equip themselves with all aspects of the truth in order to fulfill their duty of spreading the gospel? In order to win over more people, do they memorize excerpts from God’s word and Bible verses and familiarize themselves with a variety of experiential testimonies so that they can solve the various problems they meet when spreading the gospel? (No.) If when spreading the gospel, people who have distorted comprehension and hold many notions ask them difficult questions, how will they deal with them? (They will give up on them.) This is a sort of attitude. Will they complain to God, saying, “Why did I have to meet such a ridiculous person without any spiritual understanding when spreading the gospel? What bad luck!”? They have no love for potential gospel recipients, and they hope that God will not save this sort of person. Concerning this matter, they do not pray to God, nor do they seek God’s will, much less show any consideration to God’s will. They choose how they treat potential gospel recipients according to the preferences of the flesh, and when they encounter people with a lot of problems and serious notions, they give up on them. They only choose to spread the gospel to people with few notions or none at all, and they don’t want to pay any price. Whenever something is detrimental to their vanity or dignity, or to their reputation or status, whenever something goes against the preferences of the flesh or conflicts with the enjoyments of the flesh, what do they choose to do? They choose to give up, choose to flee, choose not to fulfill this responsibility, but rather refuse this responsibility. At the same time, they inwardly complain to God in their hearts, “Why did I have to meet such a ridiculous person with so many notions? Why make me suffer this? I have lost face, wasted my effort, and failed to win anyone over.” Covertly, their hearts are full of resentment toward God. Therefore, they are not willing to accept the duty of spreading the gospel, and they are not willing to fulfill the responsibility of spreading the gospel either; if their attitudes toward the duty of spreading the gospel are such as this, then they are not far from being cast out.

In the process of spreading the gospel, many of those who spread the gospel treat their work with a perfunctory and careless attitude. They never change. They never treat it with an attitude of careful attention, prudence, and fear of God. Instead, they think, “In any case, I’ve got nothing going on, I can do anything. The gospel team looks like fun, so I’ll join in.” Then, they follow along and spread the gospel. In fact, they make a very limited contribution to this process. They just take some time and travel a little, but they don’t pay any real price. They always preach the gospel according to the preferences of their flesh and their own notions and imaginings. They never follow the truth principles in the least. There are many people who like to preach to the wealthy and people with money, but not to the poor. They like to preach to good-looking people, but not to plain-looking people. They like to preach to people they get along well with, but not to people they don’t get along with. They like to preach to people who have few notions, but not to those with too many notions. They like to preach to people who are easy to bring the gospel to, people who will accept the gospel without having to listen to much talking. They do not want to preach to people if it means a lot of exhausting talking. To give an example, say that a woman is spreading the gospel and meets a man who comes from a well-off family, who owns a house and a car, whose parents have good jobs, who is an only child, and who is good-looking. She thinks that she would be able to live a life of wealth if she could marry him, so she wants to preach the gospel to this man, thinking that it would be great if he accepts it. Some other people try to stop her, telling her that this person is not a seeker of the truth, not someone who can be preached to, but she says, “If we fellowship more on the truth, it is possible that he will come to accept it. If we do not bring the gospel to such a good person and do not save him, wouldn’t that go against God’s will?” In fact, she has her own purpose. She is not trying to win over this person in order to bring him before God, but wants to advertise and sell herself to him. After a lot of marketing, she ultimately gets what she’s after, and she is able to form a relationship with him for her own ends. What is the problem here? In all she does, she has her own motives, which violate the truth principles. In the end, she uses various means to “bring” the gospel to him, and even marries him, saying, “The greatest achievement in my work of spreading the gospel was to find such a kindred spirit. This is something I must accept from God. Marriage is ordained by God. It was entirely by God’s arrangement that I met and married this person. This is God’s favor and blessing.” She goes on to form a small family and live a happy life—is she still able to spread the gospel? (No.) After a year or two, she occasionally goes to spread the gospel when she is feeling good, but she spends most of her time in family life, and her heart becomes increasingly empty. Finally, she realizes that family life is nothing but pots and pans, eating, drinking, playing around, and commotion. She feels that it is all meaningless. Looking back, she ponders and thinks to herself, “Faith in God—that is still meaningful. Let me go back and take up faith again and continue to spread the gospel!” In the end, she talks of her experiences in a grandiose manner, saying: “Man was created by God, so he cannot leave God. Without God man cannot live. Just as a fish must die without water, if man leaves God, he will certainly have no road forward in his life. This is why I have returned. It is because God called me.” What utter shamelessness! After returning, she demands that she perform her duty, saying, “It is all empty if I don’t do my duty. Everyone has to do their duty.” The words of people who don’t practice the truth and have no love for the truth disgust those who hear them. You say you can’t leave God, so why not ask God if He wants you? You found a partner in the process of performing your duty, and then laid down your duty and ran away. Why didn’t you pray to God to ask Him if He agreed with this and find out His attitude? Did you fulfill your responsibilities? Did you fulfill the commission entrusted to you by God? Did you treat God as God? Did you view your duty as your duty? To all these questions, the answer is no. What is God to you? He is just a buddy you met on the side of the road. You greet Him and immediately think you are friends. If it serves your interests, you continue on with Him, but if it is not to your benefit, you say goodbye. But then you think of Him again when you need Him. This is the sort of relationship you have. If you regard God as a buddy you once knew, what will God think of you? How will God treat you? You feel sad, your days are empty, so you need God. You turn back and want to perform your duty. Will God so casually give you a duty? (He will not.) Why not? You don’t deserve it! Although people like this can perform their duties right after they come to believe in God, before they complete their duties, they will abandon God without giving any warning, leaving their posts and abandoning their work. How does God view this? What is the nature of this conduct? (A betrayal.) Betrayal is no small matter. Such people are deserters! How do deserters perform their duty? They seek their own self-interest under the banner of performing their duty. They lay plans to secure their own future and livelihood while violating the original intention for performing their duties. Ultimately, they run away in the middle of performing their duty, making them deserters. Such a person does not expend themselves for God with a sincere heart. Instead, they have their own personal intentions and purposes and attempt to deceive God, ultimately revealing their true colors. Aren’t these people who betray God? Some people say, “Isn’t there freedom to come and go in God’s house?” There is freedom to come and go, that is true, but one must undergo an examination when entering the house of God. You are free to leave the house of God and no one will stand in your way. However, if you want to return to the house of God, it is not so easy. You must be examined and checked by the leaders and workers of the church at all levels to prove that your repentance is true. Only then will you be accepted. Thus, it is easy to go out, but hard to get back in. I have heard that some people found it so difficult to spread the gospel and suffered so much that they threw down their burden and ran away. What is the problem here? It is that they are deserters. What is most important when working at spreading the gospel? Everyone who spreads the gospel, especially people responsible for important positions, has an important role in the eyes of God. If you play an important part in spreading the gospel and desert your post without God’s permission, there is no greater transgression. Does it not count as an act of betrayal against God? (Yes.) So how, in your view, should God treat deserters? (They should be put aside.) Being put aside means being ignored, left to do as you please. If people who are put aside feel repentance, it is possible that God will see that their attitude is sufficiently repentant and still want them back. But toward those who desert their duty—and only toward these people—God does not have this attitude. How does God treat such people? (God does not save them. God spurns them.) That is completely correct. More specifically, people who perform an important duty have been commissioned by God, and if they desert their post, then no matter how well they did before, or do after, to God, they are people who have betrayed Him, and they will never again be given the opportunity to perform a duty. What does it mean to not be given another opportunity? If you say, “I am very remorseful. I owe a debt to God. I should not have made such a choice at the beginning. At the time, I was bewitched and led astray, and now I regret it. I beseech God to give me another chance to perform my duty so that I have the opportunity to repent for what I have done by meritorious deeds and make up for my mistakes,” how will God deal with this matter? As God says you have no opportunity, He will never take notice of you again. This is the attitude of God toward deserters. When dealing with people who commit common transgressions, God may say that it was a momentary transgression, or that it was due to an adverse environment, small stature, a lack of understanding of the truth, or some other such reason. In this case, God may give them the opportunity to repent. However, to deserters alone, God offers no second chances. Some people say, “What does it mean that God gives no second chances? If they wanted to perform their duty, would God not allow this?” You can perform your duty, you can spread the gospel, you can also listen to sermons and join the church. The church will not remove your name from its rolls, but as for God, no matter how you perform your duty and how you repent, God neither needs nor approves of you, even though you are rendering service for Him. This is God’s attitude. It is possible that some people fail to understand this matter and say, “Why is God so heartless and absolute when dealing with this kind of person?” Man need not understand this matter. This is God’s disposition. This is God’s attitude. You may think whatever you like. God has the power to decide. He has the power to act in this way and handle the matter like this. What can any human do? Can people protest? Who told you not to follow the right path from the first, to betray God and become a deserter? The work of spreading the gospel cannot be accomplished by one person alone, it requires many people. If you cannot perform your duty, God will choose another who can. If you don’t cooperate and don’t perform your duty, it proves that you are blind. It proves that you are muddleheaded and stupid. You don’t know that this is a blessing, so you won’t have this blessing. You should just go! If you go away but come back after a while, would God still want you? No, God does not care. This is the attitude of God toward deserters and only deserters. Some people said, “After I return and perform my duty, I am enlightened by the Holy Spirit!” When you first were performing your duty, you fled without leave, and the Holy Spirit did not hinder you. Now that you are back, can the Holy Spirit still enlighten you? Don’t make so much out of your sentimental feelings. God will not do anything against His will, and He has principles when dealing with everyone. What is the warning for people here? You must persist in your duty, hold your ground, and fulfill your responsibilities. Is God’s attitude toward such deserters too extreme? (It is not.) Why do you say it is not? How do you understand that this is not too extreme? Regardless of what duty a person performs, in the current period, does each duty done by each person have a relation to that which is ordained by God? They are closely related. Looking at it this way, if you are able to perform your duty, does it mean that God has done a lot of work? God has predestined you since the creation of the world. He has predestined the era and age in which you are born, the kind of family you are born into, the influence your family has on you, the duty God requires you to perform, and the things you have been permitted to learn in advance. For instance, if you have learned a foreign language, you now possess this caliber, this talent, that allows you to successfully perform your duty. God has done a lot of work in preparation. For what purpose does God make such preparations? Is it so that you can stand out from the crowd? Is it so that you can pursue the world and serve Satan? Absolutely not! God wants you to offer the things God has given you in God’s house, in the spreading of God’s gospel, and in God’s management plan. However, if you cannot offer what God has given you, but instead serve Satan, how will God feel? How will God handle this? How should God handle this in accord with His disposition? God will kick you away from Him with one blow. He doesn’t want you. You forget His kindness and betray His trust. You do not acknowledge or return to your Maker. You do not dedicate to God what God has given you, but offer it to Satan instead. This is a serious betrayal, and God does not want such a traitor!

In God’s work of saving mankind, the caliber that each person possesses makes them up to the task of performing the duty that they ought to do. In addition, the experience and knowledge they gain after coming to believe in God as well as the truths they understand must all be used to perform their duty. Only in this way can people contribute their humble effort to the work of spreading the gospel of the kingdom. What is this humble effort? It is the duty that a person should perform. God allows you to understand the truth and to possess intelligence and wisdom so that you may perform your duty well. This is the value and meaning of your life. If you don’t live out this value and meaning, it proves that you have gained nothing from your belief in God. You have become useless junk in the house of God. If what you live out is Satan and the flesh, can God still want you? The value and meaning of your life are gone. In God’s view, you should just vanish from His house, vanish forever. He doesn’t want you anymore. In addition, in the period of the expansion of God’s management work, everyone who follows God is performing their own duty, and they all have undergone, time and again, the suppression and cruel persecution of the great red dragon. The path of following God is rough and uneven, and it is exceptionally difficult. Anyone who has followed God for more than two or three years will have experienced this for themselves. The duty performed by each person, whether it be a fixed duty or a temporary arrangement, comes from God’s sovereignty and arrangements. People may be arrested often, and the work of the church may be disturbed and spoiled, and there may be an evident shortage of people to perform duties, especially those with good caliber and professional expertise, who are in the minority, but because of God’s leadership, because of His might and authority, God’s house has already emerged from the most difficult times, and all of its work has gotten onto the right track. To man, this seems impossible, but nothing is difficult for God to accomplish. The thirty years since God appeared and began to work until the present have been marked by tempests and all manner of tribulation. Were it not for God’s leadership, and His words which imbue people with faith and strength, no one would have made it this far. All God’s chosen people have experienced this personally. None of the work of God’s house goes smoothly, all of it is started from scratch, and done with great difficulty, and beset with troubles. Why is this? It is because we are faced not only with the crazed suppression and persecution of the great red dragon’s regime, but also with discrimination, slander, and condemnation from the entire religious community and corrupt humanity—even the whole era abandons and inhibits us. All of God’s management work launches and operates in an environment and under conditions that are filled with Satan’s evil trends, and in which Satan is in power. This is not at all easy; it is extraordinarily difficult. Therefore, every person who can perform a duty is a comfort to God, and their performing a duty is a rare and precious thing. The earnestness, loyalty, and expenditure that each person can offer, as well as their attitude of sincerity and responsibility toward their duty, of submission toward God’s commission, and of revering God, are cherished by Him, and He regards these things as very important. In contrast, God has the utmost loathing for people who desert their duties or treat them as a joke, and for the different behaviors, actions, and manifestations of betrayal against God, because amid the various contexts, people, events, and things arranged by God, these people play the role of impeding, damaging, delaying, disturbing, or affecting the progress of God’s work. And, for this reason, how does God feel and react toward deserters and people who betray God? What attitude does God have? (He hates them.) Nothing but loathing and hatred. Does He feel pity? No—He could never feel pity. Some people say, “Is God not love?” Why doesn’t God love such people? These people are not worthy of love. If you love them, then your love is foolish, and just because you love them, that does not mean that God does; you may cherish them, but God does not, for in such people there is nothing worth cherishing. And so, God resolutely abandons such people, and doesn’t give them any second chances. Is this reasonable? Not only is this reasonable, it is above all one aspect of God’s disposition, and it is also the truth. In the process of spreading the gospel, some people accept no part of the truth. They always act arbitrarily and recklessly according to their own will. They are stumbling blocks and obstacles to the work of spreading the gospel. They play a negative role by disturbing, disrupting, and spoiling the gospel work, hindering its expansion. Therefore, God’s attitude toward these people is one of loathing and hatred. They are to be cast out. This is how God’s righteous disposition is revealed. Some people say, “Isn’t it a bit excessive to handle such people like this?” There is nothing excessive about it. Faced with such devils, God can only feel loathing and hate. God does not disguise Himself. God’s disposition is righteous, and God’s disposition is clear to see. What are the two most important aspects of God’s righteous disposition? (Abundant mercy and profound wrath.) What is the importance of this here? Who endures God’s profound wrath? It falls on those who resist God, reject the truth, and follow Satan. God does not want those who are determined to follow Satan, nor does He want traitors and deserters. Some people say, “In a moment of weakness, I chose not to do my duty, but I didn’t actually want to leave God, or to return to the world and Satan’s camp.” Whether you were weak or wanted to return to the world, God may show mercy and tolerance when dealing with your weakness, depending on the situation. God is abundantly merciful. People live amid their corrupt dispositions, and in some circumstances, it is inevitable that they will feel weak, negative, or lazy. God scrutinizes all and He will deal with them according to the situation. If you are not a deserter, He will not treat you like one. If you are weak, He will surely handle you according to your weakness. If you momentarily reveal corruption, if you are momentarily weak, or if you temporarily lose your way, then God will enlighten you, guide you, and support you. He will treat you as someone small of stature who does not understand the truth because this problem is not one of your nature essence. Why does God not deal with such people by abandoning them? It is because they do not want to reject Him or the truth, and because they do not want to follow Satan. They only show a temporary moment of weakness and are unable to step up, so God gives them another chance. How, then, should these people be handled, who experience a momentary weakness and cannot perform their duties, but who later return to do them? They should be accepted. This case is different in nature from that of deserters, so you cannot apply the same rule or adopt the same approach to deal with them. Some people are not suffering weakness; they are actually deserters. If you take them back, they will desert again when they encounter a similar situation. Someone like that is not a momentary deserter; such a person will always be a deserter. This is why God kicks out such people and never takes them back. This is not excessive in the least. As they are never taken back, this means whomever else God might save, He does not save those people. When God sees that the salvation team is short one person, He may add someone else. But this kind of person is not wanted. They are cut off forever and unwanted.

There is another category of people who often disturb and spoil the gospel work while spreading the gospel, but they have also done some work and won over some people. Can these be considered good deeds on their part? For the time being, let’s put aside the question of whether they have done good deeds. Let’s first say that such people often disturb and spoil the gospel work while spreading the gospel. For example, if a person is in charge of the gospel work and always competes with others for status and power or they often get into disputes with others, disturbing and spoiling the gospel work, how will God view this matter? Will God balance such a person’s achievements and faults or approach them in some other manner? (God will give them a demerit.) Why will God give them a demerit? Although they have preached to some people, done some work, and achieved some results, they have continued to do evil deeds. Although they commit no major errors, they often make minor mistakes. What does it mean to often make minor mistakes? It means not practicing the truth, fighting over fame, gain, and status, speaking without the least bit of piety, never seeking the truth principles, often acting arbitrarily and without restraint, never making any changes, and being like the unbelievers, which has a detrimental influence on the life of the church and God’s chosen people and causes some new believers to trip up. Are these not evil deeds? (Yes, they are.) If people have done such evil deeds, even if they have worked hard to do their duties, have they really fulfilled their responsibilities? Have they truly performed their duties adequately? How does God view these people? Although they have done some work, they can still recklessly do evil, so are they performing their duties? (No.) Then why is it that they can do evil with such recklessness? In one respect, it is due to their corrupt dispositions. In another respect, these people embrace the mentality of chance. They think, “I have done a lot of good in spreading the gospel. In this or that church, hundreds of people are there because I brought the gospel to them. If these people can be saved, that will mean a great deal of merit for me. So how could God fail to remember me? When God takes these people into account, He cannot condemn me.” Are they not overvaluing themselves? Do they have a God-fearing heart? Are they people who expend themselves for God with a sincere heart? Like Paul, they seek to gain rewards and crowns. There is no place for God in their hearts. They do not understand God’s disposition and dare to make deals with God. This proves that they possess none of the truth reality. There was a person who had been spreading the gospel for a few years and had some experience at it. They suffered a lot of hardship while spreading the gospel, and were even incarcerated and sentenced to many years in prison. After getting out, they continued to spread the gospel, and won over several hundred people, some of whom turned out to be significant talents; some were even chosen as leaders or workers. As a result, this person believed themselves to be worthy of great accolades, and used this as capital that they bragged about wherever they went, showing off and testifying to themselves: “I went to prison for eight years, and I stood firm in my testimony. I have won over many people while spreading the gospel, some of whom are now leaders or workers. In the house of God, I deserve credit, I have made a contribution.” No matter where they were spreading the gospel, they were sure to brag to the local leaders or workers. They would also say, “You must listen to what I say; even your senior leaders must be polite when they speak to me. I’ll teach a lesson to anyone who isn’t!” This person is a bully, are they not? If someone like this had not spread the gospel and won over those people, would they dare to be so pompous? They would indeed. That they can be so pompous proves that this is in their nature. It is their nature essence. They become so arrogant that they lack all reason. After spreading the gospel and winning over a few people, their arrogant nature swells, and they become even more pompous. Such people brag about their capital wherever they go, they try to claim credit wherever they go, and even put pressure on leaders at various levels, trying to be on an equal footing with them, and even thinking that they themselves ought to be senior leaders. Based on what is manifested by the behavior of someone like this, we should all be clear about just what kind of nature they have, and what their outcome is likely to be. When a demon infiltrates the house of God, they render a little service before showing their true colors; they don’t listen no matter who prunes them, and they persist in fighting against the house of God. What is the nature of their actions? In the eyes of God, they are courting death, and they will not rest until they have killed themselves. This is the only appropriate way of putting it. The term “courting death” has a practical meaning. What is this practical meaning? It is a good thing when people are able to perform their duties. Some people are born with certain gifts, which is a blessing, but if they do not follow the right path, they will get into trouble. For instance, some people can speak eloquently. They know how to talk to different people and can converse easily with anyone. This can also be regarded as a kind of innate ability. Instead of first saying whether it is a good thing or a bad thing, the key thing is to look at the person’s nature and whether they are going down the right path or an evil path. During the period of God’s work of spreading the gospel, you have dedicated your talents, expended a lot of thought, and won over many people. This is no bad thing in itself. You have contributed your efforts to the gospel work, which is worthy of God’s remembrance. If, without fanfare, you do this duty well, the brothers and sisters will respect you when they see your work, and those who do not understand something will seek from you and ask your advice about it. If you have humanity and pursue the truth, people will like you, and God will bless you. However, it can happen that you do not take the right path. You may think of this little gift from God as capital and go so far as to brag everywhere about having been in prison. In fact, being in prison is no great thing. In the country of the great red dragon, many people have been arrested and imprisoned for spreading the gospel or doing church work. This should not be thought of as capital, but as a kind of suffering that is proper for people to endure. If people have testimony to give after their suffering, they can testify to God’s deeds, testify about how they relied on God to overcome Satan during the time of their persecution, what kind of suffering they endured, and what they gained from it. This is the correct way. However, they deliberately do not take this correct path, but go around boasting about themselves everywhere. “I was in prison for so many years and suffered so much, so this is how you should treat me. If you don’t treat me like that, you are blind, ignorant, and heartless.” Are they not failing to take the correct path? Originally, them being imprisoned and suffering without selling out and standing firm in their witness after being sentenced was a good thing. This was worthy of God’s remembrance. However, they deliberately did not do as they ought to have. Everywhere they went, they boasted of their achievements to win people’s respect and sympathy. They even went so far as to request some material things. This is seeking a reward for their achievements. What is the implicit meaning of seeking rewards from people like this? They can ask to be rewarded by people, but can they ask for rewards from God? They go to people and ask for sufficient rewards, they ask for status, for fame and gain, for prestige, and for enjoyments of the flesh, and then they go ask for rewards from God. Isn’t this like Paul? What’s more, they have won over many people by performing this duty. As far as God is concerned, if they can continue to do their duties on the foundation of an understanding of the truth and continue to perform this responsibility well, God will continue to entrust them with spreading the gospel. However, they choose not to do this, but think that they have sufficient credit and qualifications that they can proclaim them to everyone. Therefore, they do no work at all, but start asking to be rewarded. Everywhere they go, they boast, flaunt their capital, compare merits, and show off how many hundreds or thousands of people they have brought the gospel to. In this, they give no glory to God and never testify to God’s almightiness and wisdom. Is this not courting death? They believe in God but do not walk the right path. So, what is their attitude toward listening to sermons and fellowship? They think, “I don’t need to listen, I have been in prison, I have not become a Judas, I have testimony to give. Besides that, I have won over more people than anyone else, I have paid the highest price. I have endured every hardship, burrowed through bushes, and slept in caves. There is no suffering that I cannot bear, and there is no place I have not been to. Who among you can measure up to me? Therefore, I don’t need to completely understand the sermons I listen to. Isn’t listening to sermons just for practice? I’ve done it all already, I’ve lived it out. There’s nothing that impressive even about God’s incarnation.” What type of person speaks words similar to these? (Paul.) This is Paul brought back to life. They also say, “You’re not as skilled as I am. If you were, you wouldn’t have to listen to so many sermons, and you wouldn’t have to attentively write, copy, and memorize God’s words every day. Look at me. I have won over so many people by preaching the gospel. When did I ever study like you do? I don’t need to, as soon as the Holy Spirit does His work, I have everything.” Is this not great stupidity? Their arrogance knows no bounds. What do they take the acceptance of God’s work and the pursuit of salvation to be? They take it to be child’s play. They believe that they have displayed a bit of good behavior and done a bit of work, that they have finished their course and fought their fight, so the only thing left to do is receive their crown. To them, a God who does not give crowns is no God at all. In this, they share the same view as religious people. They also say, “Now I have suffered all there is to suffer and paid every price. I have suffered almost as much as God suffered. I should be able to receive God’s reward.” Are these people not like Paul? They always rank people by qualifications and seniority. They all but said that for them to live is Christ. If they really want to be Christ, they will get into trouble. This is a second Paul. Does one who walks this path still have room to turn themselves around? None at all. This path is the blind alley of antichrists.

Why do some people who have believed in God for many years walk the path of antichrists? This is determined by a person’s nature essence. All evil people, all people without conscience and reason are people who do not love the truth. This is why they naturally choose to walk the path of antichrists after they come to believe in God. Everyone believes in God, reads God’s words, and listens to sermons, so why do some people choose to take the path of pursuing the truth? Why do other people choose to take the path of pursuing fame, gain, status, and blessings? Their objective environments are similar, but the quality of their humanity and personal preferences are different, so they choose different paths. God’s sheep listen to God’s voice. God has spoken so many words in the last days, and God’s words have been expressed for nearly 30 years, but these people don’t understand them. So, are they God’s sheep? (No.) If they are not of God’s sheep, they are unworthy to be called human beings. What do those people who do not love the truth and do not pursue the truth concentrate on? What is it they pursue? It should be easy to see that their desire to pursue status and blessings is particularly strong, and that they won’t listen to the truth no matter how you fellowship on it. They not only cannot accept the truth, but stubbornly continue their pursuit of fame, gain, and status. Not only do they lack all self-knowledge, but they always compare merits and boast of their own capital everywhere. What is the nature of such conduct and practices? (It is courting death.) That is correct. It was in this way that Paul courted death. After listening to sermons for so many years, people are still capable of being like Paul without repenting. They lack any understanding of the truth and do not accept the truth at all. Is this not courting death? At first, when people don’t understand the truth, they exhibit some behaviors and practices that come from human will and are adulterated, or they may exhibit some deal-making or individual intentions and desires. God does not look at this because they don’t understand the truth. When God’s words had not yet been made so clear to man, God allowed man to have his corruption, adulteration, weakness, and deal-making. God has now spoken much and to a sufficient extent, and yet you still insist on believing that the things you hold on to and the behaviors you practice are correct. You deny these words of God, or even disdain and ignore the words of God, looking without seeing and listening without hearing. What is God’s attitude toward such people? How does God view such things? God will say that you don’t love the truth, that you don’t love positive things, and that you are a nonbeliever. Such people do not believe that there is truth, that everything God has said is the truth and man’s path to salvation. They do not accept this fact. Although people like this do not deny these words of God, they do not accept them either. From their behavior and what they reveal, you can see that they are not on the path of pursuing the truth. On what path are they walking? By relying on their own capital and achievements to seek rewards from God, they are walking the path of Paul. No matter how Paul is dissected, they will not identify the same things in themselves. No matter how Paul is dissected, they will not turn themselves around, repent, or come to know themselves. They still believe that all they do is right and in line with the truth. No matter how many words God expresses, no matter how He dissects and condemns such people, they will never reflect on themselves. Their views on belief in God, their intention to gain blessings, and their practice of making deals with God remain, unwavering and unchanged. What is the reason for this? They can’t understand God’s voice and they don’t listen to God’s voice. No matter what God says, it is of little importance to them. “You say what You want, but let me go my own way. You are You, I am me. Whatever You do or whatever Your will is, what is it to me? It has nothing to do with my life or death.” What sort of people are these? (Nonbelievers.) Who do they believe in? They believe in themselves. Are such people not detestable? (They are detestable.) They are detestable and should perish. They are not the ones who will be saved by God. Therefore, among those who spread the gospel, if there are many people who always rest on their laurels, flaunt their seniority, and ask God for rewards for past merits, they will be in trouble. Because of their conduct, their outcome will be determined as courting death. So, when you meet this kind of person, is it appropriate for you to admonish them against courting death? If they still can spread the gospel, don’t say that to them. You can remind them, warn them, and guide them by indirect hints to help them as much as possible. However, if their essence and disposition are truly one and the same as Paul’s, how should we treat them? Knowing that they are courting death, but not telling them the truth and still encouraging them and allowing them to continue to render service: this is called humiliating Satan. Is it appropriate to do this? (It is appropriate.) It is God’s wisdom to take advantage of Satan’s service. If you treat your brothers and sisters in this way, it is an evil deed and God loathes it. If you take advantage of Satan’s service, this is called humiliating Satan. This is called wisdom. The great red dragon, Satan, and the devils serve God’s chosen people. Is this the work of God? (Yes, it is.) How should we view this? This is the wisdom of God. This thing cannot be condemned. This is the truth. You have to use Satan, this thing, to your advantage. If you don’t use it for the purpose of service, some work will not be done well, and it won’t be easy to achieve results. People who walk the path of pursuing the truth and of salvation also have a stage of service, but this is not permanent. God does not use wisdom to make you render service, but rather you must go through this stage. Because you don’t understand the truth, you do many things without principles but according to your own will. In terms of your essence, you are unwilling to render service, but in terms of objective fact, you are rendering service. It is only when people render service well and gradually understand God’s will and the truth that they can transition, step-by-step, to the pursuit of the truth, truly perform their duties, submit to God and conform to His will, and step-by-step, embark on the path of salvation. However, this service is a completely different thing than taking advantage of Satan’s service. It is of a different nature. God only takes advantage of Satan’s service; God does not save Satan. Service-doers who believe in God with a sincere heart and can pursue the truth are the recipients of God’s salvation. In the case of some service-doers, their services are used when they are useful, but if they disrupt and disturb the work of the church, they must be severely warned. If they do not repent, they will be kicked out and expelled. This is how they must be treated. If they can normally render service honestly and do not disturb the work, then let them continue to render service. Maybe one day they will understand the truth and can be saved. This is a good thing, so why not do it in good spirits? You cannot condemn someone before it is time. What is the reason that some people are condemned? They are condemned because the disturbances they cause are too serious. No matter how much you fellowship on the truth with them, they will not be able to accept it and will perform their duties poorly. Their nature essences are one and the same with Paul’s. They stubbornly refuse to repent. Without a doubt, they are courting death. Such people are sure to be in the church. They are sure to be among those who spread the gospel. What do you think, is it a good thing to let such people know the real truth? Are you afraid that such people will know the real truth? (We are not afraid.) If people like that can recognize themselves in this and repent, that’s a good thing. You need to give people a chance. Don’t write them off. However, if they know the real truth, but fail to change their ways and continue to cause disturbances, then this is truly courting death. When people are not on the right path, no courtesy is afforded to them. People such as these should be cleared out and cast out.

Basically, these are the principles concerning the practice of spreading the gospel. In spreading the gospel, people must fulfill their responsibility and deal with every potential gospel recipient earnestly. God saves man to the greatest extent possible, and people must be mindful of God’s will, they must not carelessly pass over anyone who is seeking and investigating the true way. What’s more, in spreading the gospel, you must grasp the principles. For every person who is investigating the true way, you must observe, understand, and get a grasp on such things as their religious background, whether their caliber is good or bad, and the quality of their humanity. If you find a person who thirsts for the truth, who can comprehend God’s words, and who can accept the truth, then that person has been predestined by God. You should try with all your might to fellowship about the truth with them and win them over. However, if they are of poor humanity and awful character, and their thirst is a pretense, and they keep arguing, and cling to their notions, you should set them aside and give up on them. Some people who are investigating the true way have comprehension ability and are of great caliber, but are arrogant and self-righteous. They adhere tightly to religious notions, so you should fellowship about the truth to them with love and patience to help solve this. You should only give up if they do not accept the truth no matter how you fellowship with them—then you will have done everything you can. In brief, do not give up on anyone who can acknowledge and accept the truth lightly. As long as they are willing to investigate the true way and able to seek the truth, you should do all you can to read more of God’s words to them and fellowship more of the truth to them, and to testify to God’s work and resolve their notions and questions, so that you may win them over and bring them before God. This is in line with the principles of spreading the gospel. So, how can they be won over? If, in the process of engaging with them, you ascertain that this person is of good caliber and good humanity, you must do everything you can to fulfill your responsibility; you must pay a certain price, and use certain ways and means, and it doesn’t matter what ways and means you employ as long as you use them to win that person over. In sum, in order to win them over, you must fulfill your responsibility, and use love, and do everything within your power. You must fellowship on all the truths that you understand and do all the things you should do. Even if this person is not won over, you will be left with a clear conscience. You will have done all that you can. If you do not fellowship the truth clearly, and the person keeps clinging to their notions, and if you lose your patience, and give up on them of your own accord, this is being negligent in your duty, and for you, this will be a transgression and a stain. Some people say, “Does having this stain mean that I have been condemned by God?” Such matters depend on whether people do these things intentionally and habitually. God does not condemn people for occasional transgressions; they need only repent. But when they knowingly do wrong and refuse to repent, they are condemned by God. How could God not condemn them when they are clearly aware of the true way and yet deliberately sin? Viewed according to the truth principles, this is being irresponsible and perfunctory, and at the very least, these people have not fulfilled their responsibility; this is how God judges their mistakes. If they refuse to repent, they shall be condemned. And so, to reduce or avoid such mistakes, people should do all they can to fulfill their responsibilities, actively trying to address all the questions that people investigating the true way have, and definitely not putting off or delaying crucial questions. If a person investigating the true way repeatedly asks a question, how should you respond? You should not mind taking the time and trouble to answer them, and should find a way to fellowship clearly about their question, until they understand and do not ask it again. You will then have fulfilled your responsibility, and your heart will be free of guilt. Most importantly, you will be free of guilt toward God in this matter, because this duty, this responsibility, was entrusted to you by God. When everything you do is done before God, done facing God, when everything is held up against God’s word, and done according to the truth principles, then your practice will be entirely in accord with the truth and God’s requirements. In this way, all that you do and say will be of benefit to people, and they will approve of and easily accept it. If the words you speak are illuminating, practical and clear, then you will be able to avoid contention and confrontation, enable people to understand the truth, and edify them. If the words you speak are muddled and ambiguous, and your fellowship on the truth is opaque, unilluminating, and impractical, you will not be able to resolve people’s notions and problems, and they will be liable to seize on your faults, to pass judgment on you, and to condemn you. These problems will be even less easy for you to resolve; you may have to fellowship on several more passages of God’s words before people can understand the truth and accept it. So, one must be wise in speech when spreading the gospel, and one must fellowship transparently about the truth, in a way that can resolve people’s notions and imaginings, winning their admiration and sincerely convincing them. It is easy to achieve results by doing this; it enables people to accept God’s work in a seamless manner, which is of benefit to the expansion of the gospel.

Regarding the principles to be followed in the practice of spreading the gospel, in another respect, those who spread the gospel must be dignified and upright in their conduct, speak and behave in the manner of saints, exercise proper restraint in all they do in the process of spreading the gospel, and behave in a disciplined manner. Some potential gospel recipients do not appreciate being disturbed by strangers, so how should you preach to them? Some people preach the gospel by calling on the phone three times a day, running over to people’s homes after they come home from work, and reading God’s words to potential recipients as soon as they see them no matter how busy these recipients are. These people never choose the right times, so they are liable to become annoyances. Some people are so stupid that they even speak this way to those investigating the true way: “This world is so evil, so drop what you are doing, don’t go in to work. Do you know what time it is? The great catastrophe is imminent. It is urgent that you believe in God!” Is spreading the gospel in this way appropriate? What consequences will this bring? They are unbelievers who have not yet accepted the work of God. Is it necessary to speak to them in this way? In addition, do not meddle in the private life or personal views of potential gospel recipients. For example, some people say the following to those they are trying to win over, “Look, do you still believe in God? We believers don’t wear these clothes of unbelievers.” “People who believe in God don’t eat this sort of food, you have to eat such and such.” Isn’t this poking your nose into other people’s affairs? This is called foolishness. If your words and actions at a certain moment are not apt, they may cause the price you paid spreading the gospel to go to waste. For this reason, you must act cautiously at every turn, restrain and regulate your conduct, and behave in a disciplined manner. What is it we call discipline? It means to do things in accordance with the rules, to think of what sort of words would be apt for the duty that you are performing, and what kind of words the recipients of the gospel would be willing to hear. Do not do or say things that they will hate or be annoyed with, do not ask invasive questions, and never interfere in their private affairs. Say someone has two sons and you say to them, “It’s good to have two sons, but wouldn’t it be better to have a daughter as well?” What does this matter to you? When some potential gospel recipients know English, you say, “Your English is really excellent. It would be great if you would come to believe in God and perform your duty in God’s house. The house of God lacks people like you.” Is it appropriate to speak this way? No two people are alike. After these people come to believe, they may be more active and enthusiastic than you, but they do not yet believe nor accept, so do not force things before the proper time, and never meddle in other people’s lives. Do you understand?

There is another situation that can occur. In the process of spreading the gospel, some people accept God’s work of the last days and understand some truths. Then, they think themselves to be far above the average, everyday people. They despise all unbelievers and even despise and look down on anyone they meet that is investigating the true way. They think, “You people, if you don’t accept God’s work of the last days, you are blind, foolish and ignorant, a thing fit for nothing but death, and completely worthless. Today, it is my duty to preach the gospel to you, but otherwise I would ignore you!” What kind of attitude is this? You have done nothing more than accept God’s work of the last days. You stand no higher than anyone else. Even if you were a king, would you not still be just one of the corrupt human race? In what way are you greater than others? Do not despise people who are investigating the true way. Even if you preach the gospel to them, you are no greater or better than them. Do not forget that, just like them, you are a corrupt human being. You must be clear about this matter in your heart. Do not always look at others as if you were doing some great service to the world or guiding all sentient beings to their deliverance. You always think, “You people who have not accepted the gospel are pitiful. Every day, I burn with anxiety for you.” What is this fire you burn with? You haven’t yet solved your own problems, but you burn with anxiety over the affairs of others. Is that not hypocritical? Are you not deceiving others? Don’t hide behind a mask of virtue. In fact, you are nothing at all. Even if you have accepted God’s new work for 20 or 30 years, you are still a nobody. Even if you live with God every day and talk to God face to face, you are still an ordinary person. Your essence remains unchanged. To spread the gospel to others is to perform your duty. This is your obligation, your responsibility. You should understand that no matter how many people you win over, you remain you. You have not become another person, you are still a corrupt human being. Though you have won over many people, you should not be proud, much less arrogant. Do not boastingly wave around your achievements, saying, “I have spread the gospel for many years, and I have summed up a great deal of experience and many lessons. Whoever I preach to, I can tell at a glance whether they are good or bad people and I know when to preach and when to abstain. When it is proper to spread the gospel, I know whether it will be easy or possible. I can always find a way to bring the gospel to those it is possible to spread it to.” Although you have experience in spreading the gospel, your life entry is still very shallow. Although you have some experience of life and have changed somewhat, you sometimes brag to show off. Is this not a problem? People who have gifts are most prone to pompous and empty talk. They always think themselves better than others, they always like to lecture potential gospel recipients, and always want people to look up to and worship them. Is this not a problem of disposition? Can one bear witness for God after only changing their behavior, and not their disposition? If you can offer no testimony of dispositional change, if you can only talk about the truth of the gospel and testify for God, are you fit for God’s use? After people accept the true way, they need to understand the truth of life entry and the truth of practice. If you don’t have real experience, and you don’t know how to talk about your experiential testimony, are these not deficiencies? If you always focus on talking about doctrines so that people look up to you and think highly of you, if you always want to stand in a high position, is this testifying for God? Absolutely not. This is testifying for oneself. This is having a corrupt disposition. If you don’t undergo judgment and chastisement, how can you achieve a change in your disposition? Some of those who spread the gospel speak of some experiential testimonies, and their listeners benefit much from this, they are moved, and they admire these speakers from the bottom of their hearts. And yet, these gospel spreaders still have God-fearing hearts. They do not despise any potential gospel recipient. They are able to talk to people from the heart, get along with people and make friends normally, and they indeed possess a bit of the reason of normal humanity. How do they accomplish this? This proves that they have gained something in their belief in God. At the very least, they understand some truths, have some knowledge of themselves, and their life dispositions have changed somewhat, so they no longer become arrogant. When they see people who have not accepted the gospel, they think, “I was the same back then, so I should not belittle them. I’m not that great myself.” Their mentality is no longer as it was. Once people recognize their own nature, they will think it only natural when they see potential gospel recipients reveal a bit of ignorance, foolishness, or weakness. Do not ridicule others, and do not embrace the feeling or attitude that everyone else is part of the masses of common, ordinary people. If you hold this attitude, it will hinder and compromise your work of spreading the gospel. However, sometimes these sorts of corrupt states will arise in your heart when you see many people who have only just come to believe in God. For example, say you have accepted God’s work of the last days for 20 years and you have been spreading the gospel for 10 years. When you are among potential gospel recipients, they will always feel that you are superior to them, saying, “You have believed in God for 20 years, while we have only just accepted Him. Our stature is still very small and, by comparison, we are certainly far below you. You are an adult, and we are just newly born babes.” What should you think when they make such comparisons? “Although I accepted God earlier than them and have believed longer than they have, I am still far behind in terms of life entry and the truth. I have not yet accepted God’s real judgment and chastisement, and I am still a long way off from being saved and made perfect.” You know how you truly are in your heart. No matter how people look up to you or how highly they regard you, how do you feel? “I’m just an ordinary person, do not look up to me.” You will be disgusted and will feel no enjoyment because, in your heart, you clearly see that you are nothing at all, that you do not understand any truths, and that you can only say some words and doctrines. People are foolish and prone to look up to others. If you gladly enjoy the feeling of being looked up to and take pleasure in it, you are in trouble. If you are annoyed with it and want to leave this kind of situation, if you don’t like others treating you in this way, that proves that you have some knowledge of yourself. This is the correct state, and in it, you will not be likely to commit errors or do wrong things.

The situations I am talking about are basically ones that people commonly encounter in the process of spreading the gospel. On the negative side of things, you need to avoid some inappropriate ways of speaking, practices, and behaviors and make sure that your disposition does not reveal inappropriate things that do not conform to the truth. On the positive side, while performing this duty, you should have an attitude toward your duty of loyalty and of taking responsibility to the very end. In this way, you can adequately perform your duty. In this process, you should gradually seek the truth and the principles so as to satisfy God’s will, and strive to persevere and remain loyal to the end in the performance of every duty you have. No matter what sort of duty you perform, you should be able to satisfy God and be remembered by Him for those things you did adequately and commendably. During the period of spreading the gospel, you must strive to commit fewer and fewer transgressions and to make fewer and fewer mistakes. There must be fewer and fewer times when you engage in deal-making or seeking rewards, or have the ambition and desire to do so, while performing your duty. At the same time, you must actively seek to fulfill your responsibilities, fulfill them absolutely, and regard your duty as a thing that falls to you. Also, strive to do your duty so that, when you think back on it after many years, your conscience will be clear. This means that you must gradually reduce the number of things that make you feel that you owe a debt. You cannot continue on without changing at all. Suppose that you didn’t do your duty well when spreading the gospel to a potential recipient, and this made you uncomfortable, as if you owed a debt, and you felt that you hadn’t done enough prep work. However, when you spread the gospel afterward, your state was the same and you made no changes. This means that you did not grow at all during this period. What does this lack of growth represent? It means you have not practiced or gained this aspect of the truth; it means that these things that I am fellowshipping about were never anything but doctrines to you. If you commit fewer and fewer transgressions, make fewer and fewer mistakes, feel less indebted and fewer pangs of conscience, what does this represent? It means that you are performing your duty with greater and greater purity, and that your sense of responsibility is growing stronger and stronger. In other words, you are becoming more and more loyal in performing this duty. To give an example, in the past, spreading the gospel relied on human methods, rather than on fellowshipping the truth or interpretating Bible verses. Now it seems that such an approach is not appropriate, that it is not what a person who accepts God’s commission should do, and that it is something of a dishonor to God. Have you had this feeling? Maybe you don’t feel this way now, but one day, after you have equipped yourself with more and more truths of various types and have gained a certain stature, you will adopt a more accurate and practical attitude and perspective when looking at your past practices. This proves that your internal state has become normal. Right now, you don’t feel anything about your previous practices, you don’t hold them in contempt, and you don’t have a correct view or evaluation of them. Instead, you are indifferent. Isn’t this very troubling? This proves that you possess none of the truths relevant to such things. You even adopt a numb attitude to the various evil deeds and tricks of man and those practices of his that are not in keeping with the truth, accepting, sympathizing with, and even going along with these dirty things. Then what is your internal state? You love unrighteous things, you love things related to sin, and you love things that are not in keeping with but contrary to the truth. This is very troubling. If you continue to act in accordance with these practices, you will face a very serious consequence. What is this consequence? You are constantly accumulating evil deeds and straying farther and farther away from the path of salvation. Why do I say that you are straying farther and farther? It is because, in the process of performing this duty, you fail to seek the truth and do not abide by the principles in the things that you do. You just follow your own will and preferences. So how can you perform your duty adequately? The purpose for which you perform your duty is not to enter into the truth, but to complete a task and then give an account of yourself. What you follow is not the will of God, and what you accept is not the commission of God. The natures of these things are different. Therefore, as you go about spreading the gospel, you are not walking the path that leads to salvation, but the path of service, the path of Paul who made deals with God. Sooner or later, based on all that you do, God will determine for you the same outcome as Paul. Won’t this be the result? It will, with absolute certainty. Conversely, if in the process of spreading the gospel, your methods and means are all practical, your point of departure and intention are to satisfy God and repay God’s love, and the principles you act on and the path you walk are in accordance with God’s requirements and in complete keeping with the truth, what result will be attained by such practice? Your understanding of the truth will become deeper and deeper, you will handle affairs more and more in line with the principles, your life will grow more and more, and your faith, love, and loyalty to God will gradually increase. In this way, you will embark on the path of salvation. At the same time, in the process of performing your duty, you will gradually examine your own rebelliousness and corruption and examine your various corrupt dispositions. Then, in the process of performing this duty, you will be able to restrain yourself more and more and possess a God-fearing heart and submission. Afterward, your sense of responsibility will grow stronger and stronger and the purity of your loyalty will increase more and more. Your fear of God will also deepen. At the same time, you will gain more and more experience and knowledge of the reality of various truths. In this way, the path you walk will be completely opposite to the path taken by Paul. This is Peter’s path of the pursuit of the truth. This path is the path of salvation. As for the final result, you will experience it yourself. God will approve of you, and your heart will know more and more peace and joy. In God’s eyes, it does not matter how many twists and turns your path has taken, how many detours you have gone down, or what negativity, weakness, or even failures and falls you have had. When what you have done, what you have revealed, and what you have manifested are viewed as whole, the path you walk will be the path of salvation. So then, how will God determine your outcome? God will not rush to determine your outcome. Methodically and with gentle patience, God will support you, help you, and lead you on the path of salvation. He will allow you to accept His judgment and chastisement, trials and refinements, and will finally perfect you. In this way, you will be saved, thoroughly and completely. From this perspective, therefore, by performing the duty of spreading the gospel, do people not have the opportunity and the possibility to embark upon the path of salvation? (Yes.) They have this opportunity and it is entirely possible. It just depends on whether they can pursue the truth and take the path of pursuing the truth.

Today, we have primarily fellowshipped on various truths concerning performing the duty of spreading the gospel. Let us return to the topic that we started our fellowship with. What should we call those who perform the duty of spreading the gospel? (People who perform the duty of spreading the gospel.) That is correct. They cannot be called witnesses, preachers, and certainly not messengers of the gospel. In the final analysis, they are people who spread the gospel. Never call yourself a witness. People cannot witness anything, and it is enough if they bring no shame to God. Calling yourself a preacher is even worse. You are ever further from this. What you preach is not the “way” and the things you preach about are far distant from the “way.” Therefore, if we settle on the name “people who spread the gospel,” everyone will have an accurate definition of this duty, which is that they are just people who perform this duty. They are not witnesses or preachers at all. They are far removed from those things. If you call them witnesses or preachers, won’t they feel themselves to be superior to others? It doesn’t take much for people to show off and puff themselves up. Is showing off and puffing oneself up in this way a good thing or a bad thing? (A bad thing.) If you don’t exalt and raise up people, they always want to puff themselves up. If you do exalt them, calling them witnesses, preachers, or messengers of the gospel, can you imagine what they would be like after receiving such praise? They would puff themselves up so much that they would float away. Now, do you have a basic understanding of the various truths involved in the duty of spreading the gospel? (Yes.) To perform the duty of spreading the gospel well, you must be equipped with many truths. Some people say, “I don’t spread the gospel, so do I need to equip myself with the truth?” Other people say, “I don’t know when I will be able to spread the gospel. I have never spread the gospel and I am a poor speaker, so how can I spread the gospel?” You may not be able to spread the gospel, but can’t you equip yourself with the truths concerning spreading the gospel? Can’t you practice speaking and meeting people? If you have a sense of mission and a sense of responsibility, if you want to perform this duty well and cooperate with God, then you should equip yourself with the truths concerning spreading the gospel. You must equip yourself with the truths of the vision and of practice. It is imperative for God’s chosen people to be equipped with truths regarding these two aspects because it is never superfluous to equip yourself with these truths. They pertain not only to spreading the gospel, but are truths that must be understood by mankind. How do people benefit from understanding these truths? What blessings can it bring to them? Maybe everyone can understand the general idea, but as God’s work continues to progress and deepen, people will continue to experience God’s work and their understanding of the truth will likewise continue to progress and deepen. Their relationships with God will grow closer and closer and their associations with Him more and more frequent. People will, step-by-step, hold up the truths pertaining to the vision and to God’s work for comparison against God’s deeds and God’s attitude toward every individual. This step-by-step process of comparison is the process of knowing God. As a created being, you have believed in God for a long time, but you don’t know who God is or how He appears and works. Isn’t such belief too muddled and confused? You have performed your duty for so many years. But if, in the end, you still know nothing of God, then your belief in God has been pointless. If you hear devils spreading some rumors about God, would you believe them? (We would not.) You say that you would not believe such things now, but if you truly do not understand God, come the day you hear these rumors, you will have doubts and ponder the words in your heart, thinking, “Could it be true? Could God do such a thing?” Feeling uncomfortable, you will be unwilling to do your duty. Having fallen under the influence of rumors, you will feel that the road ahead is bleak and gloomy, so you will become lost and confused. People are always lost and confused, why is that? They don’t know where God is, or whether there even is a God, so they are always lost and confused. In what conditions does this confusion arise? It arises when many seemingly contradictory things perplex people so they cannot see the direction to take clearly and do not know which way to go. Thus, they become lost and confused. Can you see clearly and discern the many things before your eyes and follow the correct path? This involves your understanding of God, your comprehension of the truth, and the degree to which you are equipped with the truth. What does it mean when people are always lost and confused? Do they in fact really not see the road ahead? Are the lost and confused really blind? No, it is a blindness of the heart and a numbness to the truth, to God, and to judgments on all people, events, and things. Why are they numb? It is because they do not understand the truth, do not know of God’s deeds, do not know of God’s disposition, and have no basis upon which to make accurate judgments about all things. Therefore, they have no standard for judging and characterizing anything. They are fuzzy, they see everything without clarity or understanding, and cannot make judgments. Neither can they define or see through to the bottom of things. This is called numbness. Numbness leads to blindness, and blindness leads people to feel lost and confused. That’s how it works. So why is it that people who have listened to sermons for so many years still cannot discern things? It is because such people do not understand the truth. They cannot see through anything, but instead blindly follow regulations and jump to conclusions. Can this be considered blindness? Even though it cannot be said that they are completely blind, they are partially blind. In fact, if you don’t understand the truth, you can’t see through to the bottom of anything. No matter how long someone has believed in God or how many sermons they have listened to, if they are never able to understand the truth, this means that the problem is their caliber. This is directly correlated with whether or not they have spiritual understanding. Most people who have listened to sermons for many years can understand something of the truth, and maybe you actually understand quite a bit, but just lacked a suitable environment, so you have not put some truths to use and still feel that you don’t understand them. When you truly experience it yourself, when you have to make a choice or need to consider things seriously, maybe the relevant aspect of the truth will gradually become clear to you. Right now, your impressions are full of rough, empty outlines and doctrinal things. As you gradually grow in experience and age, many truths will gradually become more practical and realistic in you. More and more, this will allow you to see the essence of the truth. In this way, you can truly attain an understanding of the truth and view problems with sensitivity. No matter how many sermons people who don’t understand the truth listen to, they will not be able to see through the manifestations of humanity, of corrupt dispositions, of various human states, and of the essences of various types of people, even with both of their eyes wide open. They are blind. However, from the outside, a person who pursues the truth does not seem to be paying attention, but they will have a reaction to others’ behavior and demeanor in their heart and unconsciously form an impression of the matter. Where does this impression, this feeling, come from? The truths that people understand give them the ability of discernment. This gives such people a definition for the essence of that sort of behavior, practice, or manifestation. Where does this definition come from? It is the truth that brings people to understand, and it is the truth that gives people discernment and judgment. Right now, you understand some truths and have a bit of discernment about certain things. However, your discernment is not very accurate, so you still do not feel something like a sense of reassurance, and you are still in the process of groping your way forward. Some people say, “In that case, You should fellowship with us on every single thing.” This is not necessary. Humans have human responsibilities, and God has His own scope of work. I have told you each aspect of the truth, what is left is for you to experience all kinds of people, events, and things in your daily life. The Holy Spirit will act and orchestrate. People are required to do one thing: to engage in human cooperation and human pursuit. If you don’t engage in this pursuit, no matter how clearly I explain it, you won’t get it. I will not forcibly indoctrinate you, force you to know, understand, and gain entry. I will not do that, and neither will the Holy Spirit. It is only with your willing, voluntary, and active practice and entry into the truth that the truth will unconsciously bear fruit within you. When the truth bears fruit, your heart will be filled with light. This is understanding the truth. But if you do not understand the truth, then you will be numb to everything, slow to respond, and unable to see to the bottom of anything. For example, when someone does something, and someone else says it is an evil deed and of such-and-such a nature, you will not know and be unable to see for yourself. When someone tells you the answer, you might accept and admit it based on doctrines, but in terms of essence, you will still be unable to give your assent. If you can’t give your assent, do you really understand? You do not understand, so you can only follow regulations to deal with the things you encounter. This comes about because you do not understand the truth.

How can you perform the duty of spreading the gospel well? First of all, you must understand the various truths involved in the duty of spreading the gospel. For instance, regarding the definition and positioning of the duty of spreading the gospel, as well as the proper attitude to adopt, proper suffering to bear, proper price to pay, and proper truths to practice and enter into when performing this duty, if these truths are understood, it will be easy to perform the duty of spreading the gospel well. In addition, on the negative side, the questions of which incorrect practices should be avoided, which ones are classed as man’s good intentions, and whether people’s ideas and practices ultimately conform to the principles of spreading the gospel should all be reflected on. This means every behavior, every practice, every principle, and every conclusion in the process of spreading the gospel should be clearly examined to see whether, in the end, it conforms to the truth principles. Persist in only those things that accord with the truth principles. Those that are not in line with the truth principles must be abandoned. Only in this way will the results that come from fulfilling the duty of spreading the gospel progressively improve. Furthermore, you must practice harmonious collaboration, which is most beneficial to the work of the gospel. Without harmonious collaboration, it is difficult to carry out work. Brothers and sisters should be tolerant and patient with each other and support each other. In order to perform their duties well, harmonious coordination is required. Whoever says what is right should be obeyed. Don’t always jump to the conclusion that you are right and others are wrong. You must make determinations according to God’s words. Fellowship on the truth according to the principles set out by the house of God to reach a consensus. In addition, in the process of collaborating to perform your duty, you must learn from each other, letting the strength of one person compensate for the shortcoming of another, and not be too harsh on others. Moreover, you must exercise care and prudence and rely on love in your treatment of people who are investigating the true way. This is because everyone investigating the true way is an unbeliever—even the religious among them are more or less unbelievers—and they are all fragile: Should anything not accord with their notions, they are liable to contradict it, and should any phrase not conform to their will, they are liable to dispute it. Therefore, spreading the gospel to them requires tolerance and patience from us. It requires extreme love on our part, and it requires some methods and approaches. What is crucial, though, is reading God’s words to them, conveying to them all the truths God expresses to save man, and letting them hear the voice of God and the words of the Creator. In this way, they will gain benefits. The most important principle of spreading the gospel is to let those who thirst for God’s appearance and love the truth read God’s words and hear God’s voice. Therefore, speak less to them the words of man and read more to them from God’s words. After you have finished reading, fellowship on the truth so that they can hear God’s voice and understand something of the truth. Then, they will be likely to return to God. Spreading the gospel is the responsibility and obligation of one and all. No matter who this obligation comes to, they must not shirk it or use any excuses or reasons to refuse it. Some people say, “I’m not good at speaking, I don’t understand the Bible, and I’m also very young. What could I do were I to encounter temptation or danger?” Such words are wrong. Spreading the gospel does not mean you are assigned to do dangerous things. The house of God will not allow you to go where danger is found. The church follows principles in assigning people to spread the gospel. It is not about having people take risks, but making reasonable arrangements based on individual conditions, caliber, and strengths. Brothers and sisters collaborate with each other, and work will be given to those suitable to perform it. It cannot be said that there is no risk at all. Whoever lives will at times encounter danger. If God dispatches you directly, then you are honor-bound to accept, even if it means you will be faced with temptation, pain, or danger. Why should you see yourself as honor-bound to accept? (This is the responsibility of people.) Correct, it is only in this way that you truly take spreading the gospel as your responsibility and duty. This is the proper attitude a person should have. This is the truth, and as the truth, people should accept it, and accept it without reservation. If one day it is not appropriate for you to perform other duties, or if people are needed to spread the gospel, so you are assigned to spread the gospel, what will you do? You should accept it as something you are honor-bound to do, without any conflicting emotions, analysis, or scrutiny. This is God’s commission. It is your responsibility; it is your duty. It is not for you to pick and choose. Since you follow God, it is not for you to make your own choices. Why shouldn’t you make choices? Because spreading the gospel is God’s commission, and all God’s chosen people have a share in this work. Some people say, “I’m more than 80 years old, I can’t even leave my house. Can God still entrust this commission to me?” Others say, “I’m only 18 or 19, I haven’t seen much of the world, and I don’t know how to interact with people. I am very timid and scared to speak in public. Can God still entrust this duty to me?” God gives this commission to you regardless. No matter how old you are, you should do all you can to perform your duty to spread the gospel. Spread it as much as you can and to as many people as you can. No matter what duty you are currently performing, you should do whatever you can to spread the gospel. If one day you have the opportunity to spread the gospel to someone, should you do it? (Yes.) That is right. Many people have their own duties, but they can spread the gospel in their spare time and even achieve some results. God approves of this. Therefore, everyone has a responsibility to spread the gospel. You should not make your own choices or shirk this responsibility, but actively and voluntarily cooperate. Do not adopt a passive or negative attitude, don’t refuse, and don’t fabricate any reasons or excuses for not performing this duty. Some people say, “The environment I am in is too dangerous. Can I refrain from spreading the gospel?” If you are currently small in stature, if there is someone else to take over for you, and you are fit to perform other duties, then you can exchange this duty for another. But what should you do if you are the one who must perform this duty? (I am honor-bound to accept.) That is correct. You are honor-bound to accept it and accept it from God. This is the responsibility and obligation of every created being. Some people say, “I am physically weak, so I cannot bear the hardship of going out to spread the gospel.” If you can’t bear this great hardship, can you at least endure smaller hardships? If you cannot bear any hardship at all, then shouldn’t you suffer the great hardship of punishment? As long as you live and breathe, you should perform your duty, you should spread the gospel. This is perfectly natural and justified. If you reject your duty, do not preach the gospel, and choose to evade and escape from your responsibilities, this is not the proper attitude of a human being, nor should people adopt a resistant and defensive attitude. People should be ready to take spreading the gospel as their obligation and duty at all times and in all places. Some people say, “I have believed in God for so many years, but the church has never assigned me to spread the gospel.” Is this a good thing or a bad thing? This is not a question of good or bad. Maybe God doesn’t need you to go spread the gospel yet, but He needs you to do other duties. All duties are important, so how should you choose among them? You should submit to the arrangements of the church, without having any personal wishes. When God needs you to spread the gospel, God says, “It’s not appropriate or important for you to perform your current duty. The duty of spreading the gospel is more important.” What should you do then? You should accept it as something you are honor-bound to do, without analyzing, judging, or scrutinizing, much less resisting or rejecting it. This is the correct attitude that a created being should take toward the Creator. When people take such an attitude, can it be said that, in some sense, the relationship between them and God is normal and appropriate? In what is the relationship between man and God made manifest? It is made manifest in how you treat the things God would have you do. If God entrusts you to do something and you deliberate and ponder the matter, asking “Why do You want me to do this? Will this benefit me?”—if you can think in this way, then your relationship with God is abnormal, and you have failed to submit to God. If you say, “This is an important thing that God has told me to do. I can’t be careless about what God asks me to do. I must handle it with care. Whatever God asks me to do, whatever God entrusts me with, that is my duty. I will listen to God and I will do whatever God arranges. I cannot refuse. If I can’t remain steadfast in my duty, if I refuse, if I don’t take it seriously, if I don’t complete it well, then that is betraying God”—then you have the reason proper to a created being and have adopted the correct attitude that a created being should take toward its duty. If, knowing full well that it is God’s commission, you still refuse to accept it and justify this shirking of your duty, then the nature of the problem is serious. This is not just rebelling against God, this is betraying God. If you believe in God, you must take the stand and status of a created being and accept and submit to the Creator’s commissions. This is the correct attitude. If you lack the correct attitude toward your duty, the nature of this problem is very serious. If, when you have just started to believe, you don’t understand the truth, there is no need to get serious with you. If you have believed in God for a few years and understand some truths, but are still capable of rejecting God’s commission, if you do not spread the gospel, and are still perfunctory when performing your duty, what is the nature of this problem? This not only shows a lack of conscience and reason, but most importantly, it is rebellion and resistance against God, it is betraying God. It can be said that this is a great treason. That would be no exaggeration. A person such as this is not worthy to be called a human being and will inevitably suffer punishment. As you admit that you are a created being, what is the reason proper to created beings? To do whatever the Creator tells you to do, and to submit to all the arrangements of the Creator. This is the conscience and reason proper to human beings. Those who understand the truth are expected even more to absolutely submit to the orchestration and arrangements of God. They must never rebel in the slightest.

The truth concerning spreading the gospel pertains to a wide range of people. It ought to pertain to everyone. At first, when some people heard fellowship on this aspect of the truth, they thought that it didn’t pertain to them. But by now, everyone should have an attitude of acceptance regarding the duty of spreading the gospel, and everyone should have an awareness of this aspect of the truth. They should also have an accurate definition of this duty. So then, in what position have people placed themselves? (In the position of a created being.) You are a created being, so then what is the first priority of a created being? (To submit to the Creator.) What is the first concrete manifestation of submitting to the Creator? (To perform our duty as created beings.) So then, what is the first duty a created being should perform? (Spread the gospel and testify to God.) That’s right. That is the answer I am looking for. You have taken a very winding route before finally hitting on the correct response. The first priority of every created being is to spread the gospel, to testify to and spread God’s work across the whole world and to the ends of the earth. This is the responsibility and obligation of everyone who accepts the gospel of God. It is something to which they are honor-bound. It may be the case that you are not currently performing this duty, or that this duty is something far distant from you, or that you have never thought that this is a duty that you must perform. However, your heart must be clear on this: This duty is connected to you. It is not only a responsibility for others, it is your responsibility and your duty as well. Just because you are not currently assigned to perform this duty does not mean that this duty is not your concern, that it is not for you to perform this duty, or that God has not entrusted you to perform this duty. If your comprehension can rise to this level, does this not mean that the perspective on the duty of spreading the gospel that you hold in your heart is in accordance with the truth and with the will of God? When your understanding rises to this level, one day, after you all have finished all the work that you have at hand, God will issue a command to disperse you and distribute you everywhere, even to some places that you find the strangest, most unpleasant, and most difficult. What will you do then? (We will be honor-bound to accept.) That is what you say now, but when the day comes, tears may well fill your eyes. Now, you must prepare in this way: You must come to this awareness, “This is the age in which I was born. I am fortunate to have accepted God’s work of the last days and fortunate to have a share in the work of God’s management plan. Therefore, the value and significance of my life should be to dedicate my entire life’s energy to the expansion of God’s gospel work. I will not think of anything else.” Do you have this aspiration? (Yes.) You should have this aspiration and have made this preparation and plan. Only in this way can you be a true created being, a created being that is loved by God and adequate to Him. Some people say, “I’m not ready, and I would be afraid if I were asked to spread the gospel now.” Do not fear, God will not force you to do this before you are ready. And if you say you are ready, God may not use you just yet. So when will you be used? That is up to God, so you don’t have to worry about it. When God wants to use you, He will prepare everything. When you have the necessary stature and experience and meet all other necessary conditions, He may arrange for you to go spread the gospel in various places. When that time comes, can you be called a messenger of the gospel? (No.) At no time can those who perform this duty be called messengers of the gospel. This will never change. What should such people be called? (People who spread the gospel.) That is more accurate. No matter what such people are called, this is the duty they perform. This is the truth and it will never change. If the name changes and the identity of these people changes, then the essence of the work will change. Once the essence changes, it will deviate from the track of the truth. Once the work deviates from the track of the truth, it will become religious behavior. In that case, people will stray further and further from the path of salvation, going south when they mean to go north. Therefore, never go down the wrong path. At all times when those who spread the gospel are dispatched and sent out to various places, they do nothing more than perform their duty to spread the gospel. They are not witnesses, they are not preachers, much less are they messengers of the gospel. This is an eternal and unchanging truth.

With what I have said so far, most people will certainly have felt a light shine in their hearts, and many of them will be rubbing their hands together in eager anticipation, thinking, “That’s great, the future looks very promising! The path God has prepared for us is shining with a bright light!” This is not necessarily so. God has a plan for every one of His followers. Each one of them has an environment, furnished for man by God, in which to perform their duty, and they have the grace and favor of God that is man’s to enjoy. They also have special circumstances, which God lays out for man, and there is much suffering they must undergo—it is nothing like the smooth sailing that man imagines. Beyond this, if you acknowledge that you are a created being, you must prepare yourself to suffer and pay a price for the sake of fulfilling your responsibility to spread the gospel and for the sake of doing your duty properly. The price might be suffering some physical ailment or hardship, or suffering the persecutions of the great red dragon or the misunderstandings of worldly people, as well as the tribulations one undergoes when spreading the gospel: being sold out, being beaten and scolded, being condemned—even being mobbed and put in mortal danger. It is possible, in the course of spreading the gospel, that you will die before God’s work is completed, and that you will not live to see the day of God’s glory. You must be prepared for this. This is not meant to frighten you; it is a fact. Now that I have made this clear, and you have understood it, if you still have this aspiration and are sure it will not change, and you stay loyal unto death, this proves you possess a certain stature. Do not assume that spreading the gospel in these overseas nations with religious freedoms and human rights will be free from danger and that everything you do will go smoothly, that it will all have God’s blessings and be in company with His great power and authority. This is the stuff of human notions and imaginings. The Pharisees also believed in God, yet they took the incarnate God and crucified Him upon the cross. So what bad things is the current religious world capable of doing to the incarnate God? They have done so many bad things—judging God, condemning God, blaspheming God—there is no bad thing of which they are not capable. Do not forget that those who took the Lord Jesus and crucified Him upon the cross were believers. Only they had the opportunity to do this sort of thing. The unbelievers did not care about those things. It was these believers who colluded with the government to take the Lord Jesus and crucify Him upon the cross. Moreover, how did those disciples of the Lord Jesus die? Among the disciples, there were those who were stoned, dragged behind a horse, crucified upside down, dismembered by five horses—every sort of death befell them. What was the reason for their deaths? Were they lawfully executed for their crimes? No. They were condemned, beaten, scolded, and put to death because they spread the Lord’s gospel and were rejected by the people of the world—that is how they were martyred. Let us not speak of the final outcome of those martyrs, or of God’s definition of their conduct, but ask this: When they arrived at the end, did the ways that they met the end of their lives accord with human notions? (No, it did not.) From the perspective of human notions, they paid such a great price to spread the work of God, but were ultimately killed by Satan. This does not accord with human notions, but this is precisely what happened to them. It is what God allowed. What truth can be sought in this? Was God allowing them to die this way His curse and condemnation, or was it His plan and blessing? It was neither. What was it? People now reflect on their deaths with much heartache, but that was how things were. Those who believed in God died that way, how is this to be explained? When we mention this topic, you put yourselves in their position, so are your hearts sad, and do you feel a hidden pain? You think, “These people did their duty to spread God’s gospel and should be considered good people, so how could they come to such an end and such an outcome?” Actually, this was how their bodies died and passed away; this was their means of departure from the human world, yet that did not mean their outcome was the same. No matter what the means of their death and departure was nor how it happened, it was not how God defined the final outcomes of those lives, of those created beings. This is something you must see clearly. On the contrary, they used precisely those means to condemn this world and to testify to God’s deeds. These created beings used their most precious lives—they used the last moment of their lives to testify to God’s deeds, to testify to God’s great power, and to declare to Satan and the world that God’s deeds are right, that the Lord Jesus is God, that He is the Lord, and God’s incarnate flesh. Even down to the final moment of their lives, they never denied the name of the Lord Jesus. Was this not a form of judgment upon this world? They used their lives to proclaim to the world, to confirm to human beings that the Lord Jesus is the Lord, that the Lord Jesus is Christ, that He is God’s incarnate flesh, that the work of redemption He did for all humanity allows humanity to live on—this fact is forever unchanging. Those who were martyred for spreading the gospel of the Lord Jesus, to what extent did they perform their duty? Was it to the ultimate extent? How was the ultimate extent manifested? (They offered their lives.) That’s right, they paid the price with their lives. Family, wealth, and the material things of this life are all external things; the only thing that is related to the self is life. To every living person, life is the thing most worthy of being treasured, the most precious thing and, as it happens, these people were able to offer their most precious possession—life—as confirmation of and testimony to God’s love for mankind. Until the day they died, they did not deny God’s name, nor did they deny God’s work, and they used their last moments of life to testify to the existence of this fact—is this not the highest form of testimony? This is the best way of doing one’s duty; this is what it is to fulfill one’s responsibility. When Satan threatened and terrorized them, and, in the end, even when it made them pay the price of their lives, they did not abandon their responsibility. This is what it is to fulfill one’s duty to the utmost extent. What do I mean by this? Do I mean to have you use the same method to testify of God and to spread His gospel? You do not necessarily need to do so, but you must understand that this is your responsibility, that if God needs you to, you should accept it as something you are honor-bound to do. People today have fear and worry inside them, but what purpose do those feelings serve? If God does not need you to do this, what is the use in worrying about it? If God needs you to do this, you should not shirk this responsibility nor reject it. You should cooperate proactively and accept it without worry. No matter how one dies, they should not die before Satan, and not die in Satan’s hands. If one is going to die, they should die in God’s hands. People came from God, and to God they return—such is the reason and attitude that a created being should possess. This is the final truth one should understand in spreading the gospel and performing their duty—one must pay the price of their life to spread and testify to the gospel of God incarnate’s performance of His work and salvation of mankind. If you have this aspiration, if you can bear testimony in this way, that is wonderful. If you still do not possess this sort of aspiration, you should, at least, properly fulfill the responsibility and duty that lie before you, entrusting the rest to God. Perhaps then, as the months and years pass and your experience and age increase, and your understanding of the truth deepens, you will realize that you have an obligation and a responsibility to offer your life to the work of God’s gospel, even until the last moment of your life.

It is now the proper time to start talking about these topics because the spreading of the gospel of the kingdom has already begun. Previously, in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace, some ancient prophets and saints gave their lives in spreading the gospel, so those born in the last days can also give their lives for this cause. This is not something new or sudden, much less is it an excessive requirement. This is the duty that created beings ought to perform and fulfill. This is the truth; this is the highest truth. If all you do is shout slogans about what you want to do for God, how you want to fulfill your duty, and how much you want to expend for God, it is useless. When reality hits home for you, when you are asked to sacrifice your life, will you complain at the very last moment, will you be willing, will you truly submit? This is the test of your stature. If at the moment that your life is about to be taken from you, you are at ease, willing, and submit without complaint, if you feel that you have fulfilled your responsibilities, obligations, and duties to the end, if your heart is joyful and at peace—if you go like this, then for God, you have not gone at all. Rather, you are living in another realm and in another form. You have done nothing but change your manner of living. In no way are you truly dead. As man sees it, “This person died at such a young age, how pitiful!” But in the eyes of God, you have not died or gone to suffer. Instead, you have gone to enjoy blessings and come closer to God. Because, as a created being, you have already adequately fulfilled your duty in God’s eyes, you have now completed your duty, God does not need you to perform this duty any longer among the ranks of created beings. To God, your “going” is not called “going,” you are “gathered away,” “brought away,” or “led away,” and it is a good thing. Do you wish to be led away by God? (We wish for this.) Don’t wish for this. In this life, there are many things that man does not understand. Don’t rush to arrive at this step. Before that day comes, you must strive to understand more of the truth and know more about the Creator. Do not leave any regrets behind. Why do I say not to leave any regrets behind? In this life, people have but a limited time to go from understanding things to having this opportunity, possessing this caliber, and satisfying the conditions to engage in dialogue with the Creator, so as to reach true understanding, knowledge, and fear of the Creator, and walk the way of fearing God and shunning evil. If now you want God to quickly lead you away, you are not being responsible with your own life. To be responsible, you should work harder to equip yourself with the truth, reflect on yourself more when things happen to you, and quickly compensate for your own shortcomings. You should come to practice the truth, to act in accordance with the principles, to enter into the truth reality, to know more of God, to be able to know and understand God’s will, and to not live your life in vain. You must come to know where the Creator is, what the Creator’s will is, and how the Creator expresses joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness—even if you cannot attain a deeper awareness or complete knowledge, you must at least possess a basic understanding of God, never betray God, be fundamentally compatible with God, show consideration to God, offer basic consolation to God, and do what is proper and basically achievable for a created being. These are no easy things. In the process of performing their duties, people can gradually come to know themselves, and thereby know God. This process is actually an interaction between the Creator and created beings, and it should be a process worth reminiscing on throughout one’s life. This process is something people should be able to enjoy, rather than a painful and difficult process. Therefore, people should cherish the days and nights, years and months spent performing their duties. They should cherish this phase of life, and should not regard it as an encumbrance or burden. They should savor and gain experiential knowledge of this stage of their lives. Then, they will attain an understanding of the truth and live out the semblance of a human being, possess a God-fearing heart, and do less and less evil. You understand much of the truth, you do not do things that grieve God or that He is averse to. When you come before God, you feel that God no longer loathes you. How wonderful! Once someone has attained to this, wouldn’t they be at peace even if they were to die? So, what’s the matter with those people who are begging to die now? They just want to escape and don’t want to suffer. They just want a quick end to this life, so they can go and report to God. You want to report to God, but God doesn’t want you yet. Why would you report to God before He even calls you? Don’t report to Him before your time. This is not a good thing. If you live out a meaningful and valuable life and God gathers you away, that is a wonderful thing!

Do you all understand what we have discussed today? I hope that these words did not place any additional burden upon you, and I hope that the content of today’s fellowship did not frighten you. Rather, I hope it allowed you to understand some truths that you should understand, so that you will have a better handle on the matter of faith in God, and feel more grounded and clearer about it. Have My words achieved this effect? (They have.) Describe it to Me. (In the past, I did not truly take spreading the gospel as my duty. I harbored many fallacious views in my heart. I thought that I would be assigned to spread the gospel only if I performed my other duties poorly. It seemed to me that spreading the gospel was the worst duty, and I didn’t truly regard spreading the gospel as a commission God entrusts to man. Today, God’s fellowship told us that spreading the gospel and bearing witness to God is man’s responsibility and people should feel honor-bound to go and fulfill this responsibility. Only then did I feel that my views were too absurd, and that they had made it so that I did not truly want to properly perform the duty of spreading the gospel. Listening to God’s fellowship today has reversed my views.) Excellent. Does anyone else want to speak? (I used to think that I was just a small created being, and I didn’t take my performance of this duty to be a great matter. I felt that my duty was unimportant and unworthy of attention. Today, however, I heard God say that the duties performed by every person that He has predestined have been ordained by Him, and that they have all been carefully planned and arranged by Him. If people do not perform their duties with loyalty, they are evading their responsibilities and obligations. In particular, when I heard in God’s fellowship that spreading the gospel and testifying to God is a commission that God entrusts to everyone and the responsibility of created beings, it gave me great faith and a great aspiration to walk the path that God has ordained. I want to take responsibility for my life, to do my duty well, and to complete my mission. Then I will be able to give a bit of consolation to God. After listening to God’s fellowship, my heart was particularly moved. I felt that I could no longer underestimate the commission God has given me.) Well said. Everyone feels the same, right? (Yes.) As you can see, when people don’t understand the truth, they become muddleheaded and can ignore even such a big thing as spreading the gospel. However, when the truth is fellowshipped on clearly, people realize the importance of this matter, come to know their own position, and know the value of their own lives. Does this mean that they have direction? (Yes.) The truth can change people’s hearts. Other than the truth, is there any theory that can move your heart and change your views? None, only the way of the truth can change your views. Why is it that this way can change your views? It is because these truths are so practical that no one can refute them. These truths are related to the life of man and the mission of man’s life. They are closely tied to human beings; they are not irrelevant to them. They are not some insignificant things, but tied to the mission of man’s life and the value and meaning of living. Therefore, when spoken clearly, these words can change people’s hearts so that they will come to accept these words and change their views. Today’s fellowship should have played a certain role in changing people’s attitudes toward their duties. If these truths can change people’s lives, how they live, and the direction they follow in their pursuit, that would be wonderful. That would mean that I have not spoken these words today in vain. Now that I have completed My fellowship on these truths, you need to gradually apply, experience, and digest them in your day-to-day lives. When these truths become your reality and your life, God will not erase your title of created being and you will have truly gained something. At such time, when God really asks you to offer your life and use your life to testify to His deeds and bear witness to His gospel, you will be free from worry and fear, and you certainly will not refuse. You will joyfully accept. As it is a commission entrusted to you by the Creator, you will accept it from God. Therefore, in order to await and welcome that day, besides being able to understand these truths, people must now work hard to equip themselves with God’s words and gain a greater and deeper knowledge of God’s work and God’s disposition. This is what’s most important.

December 25, 2018