By Chen Yang, China

When I was a child, my family was very poor, with my parents earning a living as farmers, and my father often going out to carry sacks for money. To make life a little easier, my mother and I would go to the fields during the wheat harvest to collect leftover wheat to sell for extra cash. Every time, I would hear people mocking us, saying, “You’re picking up wheat with your mother again? Can’t your father provide for you?” I felt awful, and I resolved that in the future, I would work hard to earn money, and rise above others, so that no one would mock us again. At the age of 7, I picked persimmons from our trees and sold them on the street. In high school, I tried running a summer tutoring class, and though it ended in failure, I refused to give up. In college, I set up a street stall during the holidays to make money, and I also worked part-time. Actually, in 2006, when I was in middle school, I joined my mother in believing in God and attending gatherings. At that time, I focused on school and work, setting aside my faith. Sometimes when I came home, my mother would show me God’s words, but I’d impatiently refuse, thinking that attending gatherings and reading God’s words was a waste of time. My whole focus was on developing my career, believing that only through my own efforts could I earn more money. After all, isn’t success in today’s world measured by houses, cars, and cash? All of these things require making money. Only with money can a person gain others’ admiration, and even parents can benefit through association.

As I majored in musical performance, after graduating in 2016, I worked as a substitute teacher. In 2018, I started my own business and founded an art school. To recruit students, I handed out fliers door to door under the scorching sun by day, and by night, I’d go around town with my instrument to get students, often not getting home until around eleven at night. All the pressure and late nights caused me to have frequent headaches, but thinking about enrolling more students and making more money made it all feel worthwhile. Through my painstaking efforts, I opened two directly operated campuses at once. This earned me my first significant amount of money in life. Seeing my school thriving, neighbors and students’ parents praised me for being capable and competent. Hearing their approval made me feel proud, and I could finally hold my head high.

For an art school, July is the golden period of the year. Since students are on summer break, if enrollment is high, this one month can bring in tens of thousands in profit. In July of 2021, to seize this opportunity to earn more money, I added more courses and took charge of students’ meals. Taking care of so many students’ meals greatly increased my workload, and I had to go out every day to buy ingredients. I remember one morning when it was raining particularly heavily, I carried baskets of vegetables, each weighing dozens of pounds, to the car in the rain one by one. I was soaked to the bone, but I didn’t feel that this was hard at all. I thought to myself, “It’s just this one month; if I tough it out, it’ll be over soon. Then after a month, it’ll be time to count the money, and I’ll be one step closer to the high-quality life I’ve been longing for.” Just thinking about it made me happy.

In the third week of July, I suddenly received news that due to the pandemic, all schools had to suspend classes. This news was like a bolt from the blue. I’d put in a massive amount of work to prepare for these summer classes, investing a lot of labor, materials, and money. According to my plan, so long as I made it through this month, I could smoothly pocket the money, but at this point, only half of the lessons had been completed, and I still needed to refund the money for the unfinished ones. As I watched the money that was almost in my hands slip away, I just wanted to cry, but there was nothing I could do. After the refunds, I realized I worked this summer for almost nothing, and I felt quite upset about it. I spent my days feeling dejected. With classes suspended due to the pandemic, I suddenly had free time. Around then, a sister came to my house, and she fellowshipped with me that God is the Sovereign over all things, and that He has already arranged each of our fates. She also said that in the years I hadn’t attended gatherings, the brothers and sisters had always been thinking about me, wanting to help and support me. I thought about how I hadn’t read God’s words for so long and had distanced myself from Him, and yet He was still concerned about me and arranged for the sister to comfort me. I felt deeply warmed in my heart. This time, I didn’t refuse again, and after thirteen years, I finally returned to God’s house and resumed church life.

One time during my devotionals, I read God’s words. “What occupation one chooses, how one makes a living: do people have any control over whether they make a good choice or a bad choice in these things? Do these things accord with people’s desires and decisions? Most people have the following wishes: to work less and earn more, not to toil in the sun and rain, to dress well, to glow and shine everywhere, to tower above others, and to bring honor to their ancestors. People hope for perfection, but when they take their first steps in the journey of their lives, they gradually come to realize how imperfect human destiny is, and for the first time they truly grasp the fact that, though one can make bold plans for one’s future and though one may harbor audacious fantasies, no one has the ability or the power to realize their own dreams, and no one is in a position to control their own future. There will always be some distance between one’s dreams and the realities that one must confront; things are never as one would like them to be, and faced with such realities, people can never achieve satisfaction or contentment. Some people will go to any length imaginable, will put forth great efforts and make great sacrifices for the sake of their livelihoods and future, in an attempt to change their own fate. But in the end, even if they can realize their dreams and desires by means of their own hard work, they can never change their fates, and no matter how doggedly they try, they can never exceed what destiny has allotted them. Regardless of differences in ability, intelligence, and willpower, people are all equal before fate, which does not distinguish between the great and the small, the high and the low, the exalted and the mean. What occupation one pursues, what one does for a living, and how much wealth one amasses in life are not decided by one’s parents, one’s talents, one’s efforts or one’s ambitions, but are predetermined by the Creator” (The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique III). God’s words woke me up as if from a dream, and I understood that my fate and whether I have wealth are under God’s sovereignty and arrangements. No matter how hard I strive and struggle, in the end, I can’t change the path of fate that God has set for me. Before, I didn’t know God’s sovereignty, and I always wanted to rely on my own efforts to change my fate. When I was young, my family was poor, and I was always ridiculed by others, so I dreamed that one day I could live a life of wealth that would earn others’ admiration. That’s why, as a child, I learned from adults and started selling things. Before graduating from high school, I ran a tutoring class during the summer break. In college, I persisted in running a street stall and doing part-time jobs, and then after graduation, I started a business by opening a school, all just to make more money. But when the pandemic suddenly hit, all my plans were ruined, and I had to watch the money that had already gone into my pocket be returned, and I truly felt that hard work doesn’t necessarily bring rewards, and that not everything unfolds according to human plans. A person’s fate is entirely in God’s hands. How much wealth I have in this life doesn’t depend on my efforts and plans, but on the predestination and sovereignty of the Creator. A person’s plans and efforts are merely ideals and aspirations, and they can’t determine any final outcome, nor change the life that God has predestined for them. God gave me talents so that I could support myself, and this was His grace and blessing. But I remained unsatisfied, always wanting to rely on my own efforts to live a life of wealth and abundance, and I couldn’t submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements. In the end, not only did I fail to achieve my desires, but my body and spirit also suffered great harm. I was truly foolish! I thought about how some people win millions just by buying a lottery ticket, while others toil their whole lives yet still achieve nothing and remain impoverished. This all confirms that human fate is ruled and arranged by God’s hands. I then read more of God’s words: “After you recognize this, your task is to lay aside your old view of life, stay far from various traps, let God take charge of your life and make arrangements for you; it is to seek only to submit to God’s orchestrations and guidance, to live without individual choice, and to become a person who worships God” (The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique III). God’s words gave me a path of practice. I no longer wished to struggle against God’s predestinations and was willing to submit to His sovereignty and arrangements, and I entrusted the development of my school into God’s hands. After that, I actively attended gatherings and ate and drank God’s words, and I also began training to water newcomers. My heart felt at ease and liberated and I saw God’s blessings. During the pandemic, when all industries were in a slump, most educational institutions suffered huge losses. However, my school was not only able to operate normally, but two other institutions even approached me for course collaborations, helping me through this difficult period.

In June 2022, I took on the duty of a watering group leader. By eating and drinking God’s words, I came to understand that right now, God is carrying out His final work of saving humanity, and that in the end, God will use various catastrophes to bring this age to a close, rewarding the good and punishing the evil according to their deeds. Only those who practice the truth, fulfill their duty, and have their corrupt dispositions cleansed can be saved by God and survive. As for me, besides my irregular class schedule each week, I also had to handle various issues at the partner campuses, and I simply did not have enough time or energy to pursue the truth and do my duty well. So I thought about quitting part of my job to have more time for my duty. But I felt conflicted, thinking, “My duty is more important than teaching, but the classes aren’t too tiring, and the partner campuses are developing steadily. If I give these things up, I’ll earn significantly less!” I felt somewhat unwilling to let go of these things. I prayed to God, asking Him to guide me, so I could let go of these burdens and have more time to eat and drink His words and do my duty. Later, I thought of the lyrics of the hymn of God’s words “Song of the Overcomers”: “The kingdom is expanding in mankind’s midst, it is forming in mankind’s midst, and it is standing up in mankind’s midst; there is no force that can destroy My kingdom. My people, who are in the kingdom of today, which of you is not a member of human race? Which of you lies outside the human condition? When My new starting point is made public, how will people react? You have seen with your own eyes the state of the human world; have you not yet dispelled thoughts of living forever in this world?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Words to the Entire Universe, Chapter 19). God’s gospel of the kingdom has been spread to all nations of the world, various disasters and wars have already come, and God’s work of saving mankind is about to come to an end. If I didn’t do my duty properly and kept pursuing money with all my heart, I’d just ruin my chance to gain the truth and be saved. In the end, if I fall into disaster, no amount of money will be able to save my life, and pursuing the truth and fulfilling my duty are what truly matter. So I started by resigning from my private school classes, and then, one after another, I terminated partnership with the two campuses. This freed up my time from Monday to Friday to do my duty and meant I only taught on weekends. Although I now had fewer partner schools and earned less money, I had more time to eat and drink God’s words and do my duty, and my heart felt at ease and at peace. I thought I’d let go of my attachment to money somewhat, but little did I know, another great temptation awaited me.

In April 2023, my sister-in-law introduced me to an online store business, and she said I could earn 500,000 yuan in 3 to 6 months. I was pretty tempted, thinking, “Earning 500,000 in such a short time—that’d be far more than I make teaching. I’ve already got a house, but if I could replace my car with a Mercedes, I’d be even more impressive driving around town.” I also felt uneasy and was afraid of being tricked, and I also worried that getting involved in this business would affect my duty. So I refused. Later, my sister-in-law opened a store and became the manager, and I watched her income go gradually from tens of yuan per day to one to two thousand. Some people less capable than me also followed her, opening stores and becoming managers, and they were earning thousands of yuan per day. All this tempted me even more. I thought, “This seems like easy money. If I too could earn thousands per day and make 500,000 in three months, then my wish for a new car would soon come true.” The thought of others admiring and envying me after I bought my new car motivated me, and without further hesitation, I invested a few thousand yuan. Later, to earn more money, I introduced the business to friends and relatives to get them to join, promising that they’d be sure to make money, and that if they lost money, I’d cover their losses. I kept expanding my team, and my performance kept growing. By June, I had become a store manager as well, and my daily income was nearly 2,000 yuan. In July, I opened another branch. The business became busier than before, and I was also making more money than before.

In August 2023, the brothers and sisters elected me as a watering deacon. To avoid impacting my duties, I’d always do my duties during the day and see to the online stores by night after getting home. Sometimes when I came back late, I’d work overtime to handle things, and often, I’d still be on calls or in meetings at 1 or 2 a.m. I was often so busy that I didn’t even have time to eat. Very quickly, in just three months, I’d opened eight stores, and I’d achieved over 2 million in sales. But as I kept staying up late, I’d often have headaches and be exhausted during the day, feeling dizzy and lacking in energy. This seriously affected the state in which I did my duties. I was going through the motions in gatherings, and I couldn’t find problems or resolve the difficulties of my brothers and sisters. As soon as I’d get home, there’d be issues with the online stores waiting for me, and I felt utterly exhausted. But to earn money, I felt powerless to break free, as if I were being held back. I asked my sister-in-law, “At what point will I be able to earn 500,000 and no longer have to manage the online stores?” She replied, “When your team’s performance reaches 5 million, you can detach from this industry and stop managing the stores. By then, you’ll have earned enough to reach 500,000.” When I heard this, my head spun, and I suddenly realized I had been tricked. I’d thought that making 500,000 would only take three months, and by then, I’d have earned the money and not have delayed my duties. I’d never expected there to be a condition of a 5-million-yuan team performance. When would I be able to reach 5 million and break free? This number felt so far away, and I felt like I was being controlled. I was so worried I couldn’t eat or sleep. At that time, I was making over 8,000 yuan per day, but I wasn’t happy at all. I realized I had gone down the wrong path, and I was in great pain, so I prayed, “God, I now know I’ve fallen into the vortex of money. I thought it was just a small business of a few thousand yuan, and I never expected it to become such a heavy chain that now binds me. How can I get rid of this? God, please help and guide me.” After praying, I decided not to earn the 500,000. I called my sister-in-law and explained my decision. My sister-in-law saw I was determined and so she agreed. Shortly after I withdrew, one day, I suddenly received news that this online store business was actually a new type of scam popular on the internet. It was to let them earn money first, and then, when they let their guard down, the scammers run off with all the invested money. I finally realized I had been deceived. I was stunned, and all the strength left my body, because the people I’d introduced were unable to recover their money. To grow the team, I’d promised each person I’d be responsible for any losses, and now that the online stores had collapsed, everyone I’d referred started coming to me for money. Just like that, I was dragged into a scam because of my greed for money. Faced with having to pay hundreds of thousands in compensation, I didn’t know what to do. For an entire week, I was besieged by threats, abuse, and interrogations, and I was bombarded with phone calls and messages demanding money. I was so scared that I didn’t even dare look at my phone, and I had no idea how to face all this. My heart was full of grievances and misery, and the pain got to the point where I even thought of jumping off a building to end it all. I thought that even though I’d been deceived, I couldn’t avoid bearing the consequences, and in the end, I paid nearly 200,000 yuan in compensation. I lost around ten kilograms in a week. In my pain and despair, I knelt before God in prayer, weeping tears of pain, “God, I was wrong. I know that my ambition and desires ruined me, and in this situation, I find myself in such pain, but I know these things have come upon me by Your permission. Please guide me to understand Your intention.” After praying, my heart gradually calmed down, and I became willing to seek the truth.

In my seeking, I read God’s words. “Satan uses fame and gain to control man’s thoughts, until all people can think of is fame and gain. They struggle for fame and gain, suffer hardships for fame and gain, endure humiliation for fame and gain, sacrifice everything they have for fame and gain, and they will make any judgment or decision for the sake of fame and gain. In this way, Satan binds people with invisible shackles, and, wearing these shackles, they have neither the strength nor the courage to throw them off. They unknowingly bear these shackles and trudge ever onward with great difficulty. For the sake of this fame and gain, mankind shuns God and betrays Him and becomes increasingly wicked. In this way, therefore, one generation after another is destroyed in the midst of Satan’s fame and gain” (The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique VI). “‘Money makes the world go round’ is a philosophy of Satan. It prevails among the whole of mankind, in every human society; you could say it is a trend. This is because it has been instilled in the heart of every single person, who at first did not accept this saying, but then gave it tacit acceptance when they came into contact with real life, and began to feel that these words were in fact true. Is this not a process of Satan corrupting man? … Regardless of how much experience someone has with this saying, what is the negative effect that it can have on someone’s heart? Something is revealed through the human disposition of the people in this world, including each and every one of you. What is it? It is the worship of money. Is it hard to remove this from someone’s heart? It is very hard! It seems that Satan’s corruption of man is deep indeed! Satan uses money to tempt people, and corrupts them into worshiping money and venerating material things. And how is this worship of money manifested in people? Do you feel that you could not survive in this world without any money, that even one day without money would be impossible? People’s status is based on how much money they have, as is the respect they command. The backs of the poor are bent in shame, while the rich enjoy their high status. They stand tall and proud, speaking loudly and living arrogantly. What does this saying and trend bring to people? Is it not true that many people make any sacrifice in order to get money? Do many people not lose their dignity and integrity in the pursuit of more money? Do many people not lose the opportunity to perform their duty and follow God for the sake of money? Is losing the chance to gain the truth and be saved not the greatest of all losses for people? Is Satan not sinister to use this method and this saying to corrupt man to such a degree? Is this not a malicious trick? As you progress from objecting to this popular saying to finally accepting it as truth, your heart falls completely into Satan’s grasp, and therefore you inadvertently come to live by the saying. To what degree has this saying affected you? You might know the true way, and you might know the truth, but you are powerless to pursue it. You may clearly know that God’s words are the truth, but you are unwilling to pay the price or to suffer in order to gain the truth. Instead, you would rather sacrifice your own future and destiny to resist God to the very end. No matter what God says, no matter what God does, no matter how deep and how great the love that God has for you is, insofar as you are able to understand it, you would stubbornly insist on having your own way and pay the price for this saying” (The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique V). Pondering God’s words, I understood that it is Satan who has instilled many wrong thoughts and ideas in people, causing people to worship money, fame, gain, and material desires, to single-mindedly pursue money, fame, and gain, and to become unable to come before God to pursue the truth and receive His salvation. I was living by the poisons instilled by Satan, such as “Money makes the world go round,” “Money isn’t everything, but without it, you can do nothing,” “Stand out above the rest,” and “Hold a position above others.” I thought money to be the answer to everything, that a person couldn’t survive without it, and if a person had money, their status became respectable, and others would no longer dare to look down on or mock them. When I was young, I was ridiculed because my family was poor, so I wanted to become wealthy and live a life of prosperity, thereby making others admire me. To earn money, I tried all kinds of methods, and I even stopped gathering and reading God’s words. Even when my mom came to me with the book of God’s words, I would impatiently push it away. After opening an art school, I was always thinking about how to market and recruit more students to make more money. Every day, my mind was on edge, and I was fatigued to the point of insomnia and headaches. Eventually, due to the pandemic, everything was shut down, and only then did I return to God’s presence. Later, by reading God’s words, though I realized that my life’s fate and how much wealth I would have are all in God’s hands and not dependent on my efforts and plans. But because my desire for money, fame, and gain was too strong, I didn’t recognize the evil means Satan uses to harm people. So when I was once again lured by money, to earn an extra 500,000 yuan to buy a luxury car and gain admiration and envy from more people, I ended up going astray and getting ensnared in an online scam, turning from a respected school principal into a scammer who cheats people out of their money. Faced with huge compensation fees and endless criticism and verbal abuse from friends and relatives, I felt like a rat in the street. Both mentally and physically, I suffered enormous blows and torment, and I even thought of ending my life to escape it all. I saw that money, fame, and gain were like an invisible rope that bound me tightly, and that I’d lived by these satanic poisons, treating the attainment of money, fame, and gain as my life’s goal, and as a result, I’d been tricked by Satan, suffering unspeakably. I saw that pursuing wealth, fame, and gain could only make my life more painful, cause me to stray from God, and make me lose my chance at God’s salvation. I then thought about how many people, after losing money in business ventures, develop depression, and some, unable to bear it, even jump to their deaths. I saw that the pursuit of money is a path to destruction. I was very glad that I had come to follow God, so that in such circumstances, I could accept them from God and seek the truth; otherwise, I too would have been one of those who committed suicide. Although I lost money in this matter, I came to see God’s painstaking intentions to save me. From the bottom of my heart, I thanked God!

One day, during my devotionals, I read God’s words. “God doesn’t require you to exert all your strength just to survive and keep living. He doesn’t need you to live a glamorous life and glorify Him through it, nor does He require you to accomplish any great deeds in this world, perform any miracles, contribute anything to humankind, provide assistance to any number of people, or resolve the employment problems of any number of people. It’s unnecessary for you to have a grand career, to become famous worldwide, and then use these things to glorify God’s name, proclaiming to the world, ‘I am a Christian, I believe in Almighty God.’ God only hopes that you can be an ordinary person and a common individual in this world. You don’t need to perform any miracles; you don’t need to excel in various professions or fields, or become a famous person or a great figure. You don’t need to be someone who garners people’s admiration or respect, nor do you need to have any successes or accolades in various areas. There’s certainly no need for you to make any contributions in various professions in order to glorify God. God’s requirement for you is simply to live your life well, to have basic necessities, not to go hungry, to dress warmly in winter and suitably in summer. As long as your life is normal and you have the ability to survive, that’s enough—that is God’s requirement for you. Regardless of what gifts, talents, or special abilities you have, God doesn’t wish for you to use them to gain worldly success. Instead, He wants you to apply whatever gifts or caliber you have to doing your duty, to that which He entrusts to you, and to the pursuit of the truth, ultimately attaining salvation. This is the most important thing, and God doesn’t require anything beyond that” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (21)). “The last days are also a special time. In one respect, the affairs of the church are busy and complicated; in another, facing this moment when the gospel of the kingdom of God is expanding, more people are needed to dedicate their time and energy, to contribute their efforts and fulfill their duties in order to meet the needs of various projects within the house of God. Therefore, regardless of your occupation, if outside of meeting your basic living needs, you are able to devote your time and energy to fulfill your duty in God’s house, cooperating in various projects, then in the eyes of God, this is not only desirable but also particularly valuable. It is worthy of God’s commemoration, and of course it is worth it for people to invest and spend this much too. That is because although you sacrificed the enjoyments of the flesh, what you gain is the priceless life of God’s words, an everlasting life, a priceless treasure that cannot be exchanged for anything in the world, with money or any other thing. And this invaluable treasure, the thing you gain through investing time and energy, through your own efforts and pursuits: This is a special favor and something you have been lucky to receive, isn’t it? God’s words and the truth becoming one’s life: This is a priceless treasure in exchange for which it’s worth offering everything. … if, after having the food and clothing, you exert extra time and energy, earn more money, acquire more material pleasures, and your flesh is satisfied, yet in doing so, you’ve ruined the hope of your own salvation, then this undoubtedly is not a good thing for you. You should be upset and anxious about it; you should adjust your work or your attitude about life and demands concerning physical life quality; you should let go of certain desires, plans, and agendas for life in the flesh that do not align with reality. You should pray to God, come into His presence, and resolve to fulfill your own duty, throwing your mind and body into the various tasks in God’s house, striving so that in the future, on the day when God’s work is concluded, when God examines the work of all different kinds of people, and measures the statures of all these different kinds of people, you will be a part of them. When God’s great work is accomplished, when the gospel of God’s kingdom has spread throughout the universe, when this joyous scene unfolds, there will be your toil, your investment, and your sacrifice. When God receives glory, when His work is expanded throughout the universe, when everyone is celebrating the successful accomplishment of God’s great work, at the unfolding of that moment of joy, you will be the one who is connected to this joy. You will be a partaker in this joy, not the one who will weep and gnash their teeth, who will beat their breast and pound their back while everyone else is shouting and jumping for joy, not the one receiving punishment, who will be thoroughly spurned and eliminated by God” (The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (20)). From God’s words, I realized that God doesn’t need people to become famous or great to glorify Him or testify for Him. God only hopes that so long as people have clothing and food, they will spend more of their time pursuing the truth, doing their duties well, and being saved. I thought about how I’ve had a talent for music since I was young. After graduation, I earned a living with my talent, and in my life, I not only had clothing and food, but even some surplus. However, I wasn’t satisfied with that, and instead of spending more time and energy on fulfilling my duties and on pursuing the truth, I wanted to earn more money and gain the admiration of more people. I thought that making money and standing out was more important than anything else. Thinking back, before I found God, I earned some money and enjoyed people’s admiration, but inside, I didn’t feel at ease, much less any real happiness. Every day, apart from work, I’d just eat, drink, and have fun with friends to stave off boredom, and I didn’t understand the purpose of life or its meaning or value at all. Though money brought me temporary material enjoyment, it couldn’t change the emptiness deep inside me. Through reading God’s words, I understood that pursuing money, fame, and gain still leads to emptiness, and that it has no meaning. Only by pursuing the truth and fulfilling the duties of a created being can life be meaningful and valuable. I thought of what the Lord Jesus said: “What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). In the past, when I didn’t have money, I always thought that once I had money, I would be satisfied, but even after I had money, I still felt empty and without meaning. Money is not what people truly need. Like someone from my hometown—he was suffering from a terminal illness, went to a bridge, threw all his money down, and then he jumped into the river to end it all. When faced with illness and death, no matter how much money, fame, and gain you have, or how many people admire you, it’s all utterly useless. These things cannot buy life, and not following God, pursuing the truth, or fulfilling duties ultimately leads to emptiness. God’s work has now reached its final stage, and the opportunities and time to pursue the truth are running out. I should make the most of my time, eat and drink more of God’s words, and fulfill my duties as a created being. This is what is most meaningful. I thought of Lot’s wife. She was saved by the angels and had already escaped the city of Sodom, but because she couldn’t let go of her possessions and wealth, she looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, becoming a symbol of shame. We are now in the final stretch of the path, and I should learn from Lot’s wife. I had to let go of the pursuit of wealth, fame, and gain, and do my duties well and pursue the truth. This is the most meaningful life that God approves of.

I am now doing the duty of a leader in the church. In order to have more time and energy to equip myself with the truth and fulfill my duties, I have kept on only a dozen or so students, and I work 6 hours a week to cover my daily expenses. I use most of my time to do my duties. Through doing my duties, I’ve learned how to interact with others correctly, how to treat God’s commission and do my duties in a way that is up to standard, and how to know my corrupt dispositions, among other things. Now, I read God’s words and do my duties every day. I am no longer bound and harmed by money, fame, and gain, and I feel light and at ease in my heart. Thank God for saving me!