By Weiwei, China

I began believing in the Lord with my parents when I was 17. In 2001, our whole family accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days, and afterward, we each began doing our duties. I thought that as long as we kept expending ourselves and doing our duties for God and followed Almighty God to the end, since God is righteous, when God’s work ends, our whole family would be saved and enter God’s kingdom.

At the end of 2012, I was arrested by the CCP while preaching the gospel. After I was released, I left home to do my duty elsewhere to avoid being arrested again. In 2014, I met my father at the place where I was doing my duty. When I saw him actively doing his duty, and learned that my sister was also doing her duty in the church, I was very happy. I thought back on how, over the last ten-plus years, each of us in our family had been doing our respective duties, and I felt that as long as we continued doing our duties and followed to the end, when God’s work ends, our family would be saved and enter God’s kingdom. But what came as a complete surprise to me was that one day in 2015, the district leaders came to communicate with us about the work, and they mentioned a letter from my home church, saying that my father kept picking at the leader’s flaws in the gatherings, and no matter how he was fellowshipped with, he wasn’t getting any better. My father even said that the leader didn’t understand anything and suggested finding an expert to fellowship with him. This disturbed the brothers and sisters and kept them from gathering in peace. The district leaders said they were planning to look into the specifics of the situation and then fellowship properly with my father. I feigned calmness and said, “How could my father’s state be so bad?” But inside, I was angry and distressed, thinking, “What’s wrong with him? He’s believed in God for over ten years, and yet he won’t do his duties properly and is causing disturbances?” At that time, I was desperate to see my father as soon as possible, so I could talk to him, and try to persuade him not to cause any more disturbances. But I also knew that my father had an arrogant disposition, that he refused to back down when he thought he was right, and that my attempts at persuasion wouldn’t help. If he continued causing disturbances without repenting, the nature of it would be very serious, and he would face being cleared out. From finding the Lord to accepting this stage of God’s work, my father had believed for nearly twenty years, and during this time, he had suffered a lot, even continuing to do his duties in dangerous situations. If he were cleared out, wouldn’t all his years of suffering have been in vain? His life of faith would be completely over. Thinking of this, I told the leaders, “If I could see my father and try and talk some sense into him, maybe his state could be turned around.” One of them said, “You’re too emotional right now, so if you see your father, you’ll either act out of hotheadedness or out of affection. You have your own duty to do. We will go fellowship with your father. Just focus on your duty for now.” I thought what the leader said was right, and that it was better to let them fellowship with him. Over the next few days, I was so disturbed by my father’s situation that I couldn’t sleep, had no appetite, my thoughts were a mess, and I couldn’t focus on my duties. I hoped that through their fellowship, my father could turn things around, and at the very least, wouldn’t be cleared out. I felt that as long as he could still labor in God’s house, there would still be hope for him to be saved. So every day, I waited eagerly for good news about my father.

Before long, I received a letter from the brothers and sisters responsible for the cleansing work, asking me to provide an account of my father’s consistent behavior and an evaluation of him. When I read the letter, I felt an indescribable pain in my heart, and my eyes welled up with tears. It was really hard for me to accept this fact, and I thought to myself, “It seems my father’s problem is serious. If his behavior is bad, he will be cleared out, and once he’s cleared out, he will be cut off from God’s house forever. Then his life of faith would come to a permanent end, and he would have no hope of salvation at all.” Outwardly, I said that my father’s humanity wasn’t very good, and that his being cleared out would be God’s righteousness, but deep down, I kept worrying, “If my father really is cleared out, will he be able to bear it? He’s already in his sixties; how will he go on living if he’s cleared out?” I quickly knelt down to pray to God, “God, seeing my father facing being cleared out is so painful. Please protect my heart so I don’t complain or misunderstand You, and so that I can submit.” I prayed over and over again. While writing my father’s evaluation, I thought about how my father’s humanity wasn’t good, and about how he had almost done extreme things while out in the world. If I wrote about these aspects of my father’s behavior and the church assessed his consistent conduct, wouldn’t they decide to clear him out? Since I was a child, my father had been very good to me. When I was young, I had a weak constitution and always caught colds, and after injections, I wouldn’t want to walk, so my father would carry me home. In the years I’d been away from home doing my duty, my parents had been scrimping to save money for me, and they’d helped me a lot. Several times, my in-laws caused trouble at our house, and my father was often worried because of my issues. So I felt that perhaps I shouldn’t write about my father’s bad humanity, and that instead, I’d write about how he expended himself with enthusiasm. That way, when the brothers and sisters saw that my father’s past behavior had been good, maybe they’d give him a chance to repent and let him stay on to labor, and my father would still have hope for salvation. For the next few days, I was so troubled by this matter that I couldn’t focus on my duty. In my pain, I recalled a line of God’s word: “If your parents do anything that is of no benefit to the church, they cannot escape.” So I looked up the passage in which this line appeared. God says: “You must show strength and backbone, and stand firm in your testimony to Me; rise up and speak on My behalf, and fear not what other people might say. Just satisfy My intentions, and do not let anyone constrain you. … I am your support and your shield, and all is in My hands. What, then, are you afraid of? Are you not being too sentimental? You must cast aside your feelings as soon as you can; I do not act out of feelings, but exercise righteousness instead. If your parents do anything that is of no benefit to the church, they cannot escape” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 9). After reading God’s words, I felt deeply distressed and upset. God’s intention was for me to stand on the side of truth when faced with things, not to act based on affection, to hold to truth principles, and to uphold the interests of God’s house. But when I learned I had to provide details of my father’s consistent behavior, I didn’t look at things according to truth principles, and instead, I was reminiscing on how my father had been good to me since childhood, and I lost my standing and principles. I even thought about seeing my father in person to try and talk to him, to stop him from causing more disturbances. That way, he wouldn’t be cleared out, and he could stay on to continue laboring, and he would have a chance to be saved. If I’d had a bit of conscience and reason, I should have stood on God’s side and upheld the church’s work and honestly written about his behavior I knew about, but I showed favoritism to my father based on affection, and I just wanted to emphasize his good behaviors while either glossing over or leaving out his bad behavior. In what way did I have a God-fearing heart? Realizing this, I honestly wrote down all of my father’s behaviors that I knew of, and then gave the report to the brothers and sisters.

A while later, I saw the notice of my father being cleared out. My father had not only been picking at the leader’s faults, but also didn’t accept the truth at all. He’d also been taking God’s words out of context, condemning and accusing anyone who fellowshipped with him. He’d persistently disturbed church life, and had absolutely refused to repent, and so he was eventually cleared out. Based on my father’s consistent behavior, he was truly absurd, lacking spiritual understanding, and his nature was extremely averse to and hateful toward the truth. His being cleared out was indeed God’s righteousness. Realizing this, I let go of my affection for my father.

One day in March 2022, I received a letter from the leaders of my sister’s church, saying that my sister hadn’t attended any gatherings since August 2021. According to the church’s principle, those who, for extended periods of time, do not gather, pursue the truth, or do their duties must be cleared out, and they asked me to quickly write about my sister’s consistent behavior. Upon reading this, I felt a heart-wrenching pain, and I just couldn’t accept this fact. I was in turmoil and couldn’t focus on communicating with the sisters about the work, so I curled up and sobbed, holding my head. The sisters saw me like this and quickly came to help me by fellowshipping with me, but their words just didn’t get through to me. I thought to myself, “How could this be? A while ago, my sister sent me a letter along with some spending money. How could she have fallen out of contact with the church in just a few months? Could something have happened at home? I remember my sister was always enthusiastic about expending herself in her faith and active in her duties. Why has she not been in contact with the church lately? Something major must have happened at home. Should the church give her another chance to repent?” That day, I also learned that the church was only gathering information about my sister’s consistent behavior, and that if she sincerely repented and was willing to faithfully believe in God, she would still have a chance to repent. But I still worried, “What if my sister doesn’t come back to the gatherings soon?” That night, I tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep. The beautiful memories of our family all believing in God and doing our duties played like a movie in my mind. My sister had always taken care of me since childhood. When I was in a bad state, she supported me, and when I was doing my duty elsewhere, she often sent me spending money. A few years before, my father had been cleared out, and now if my sister were cleared out as well, it would mean their years of faith were in vain, and that they’d have no hope of salvation. Thinking of this, I felt a pang of sorrow, and a feeling of distress gripped my heart. Over the next few days, I was deeply refined because of my sister, my state was really bad, and I couldn’t calm my heart in my duties. I thought, “I should go back home and have a good talk with my sister. As long as she returns to the church and does her best in her duties, she won’t be cleared out.” But then I thought, “I’m being hunted for believing in God, I have a police record, and if I return home recklessly and get caught, I won’t be able to do my duties, and I’ll be putting the brothers and sisters in danger. The consequences would be unimaginable.” My mind was a mess and I didn’t know what to do. Three days later, I felt dizzy, my heart was racing, and I had chest tightness and shortness of breath. At first, I thought it was a cold, and that I’d get better with rest and medicine, but after taking some medicine, not only did my condition not improve, but it kept worsening, and I felt like I could collapse at any moment while walking. Only then did I come before God in prayer, “God, what’s happening to me? Have I done something that doesn’t align with Your intentions, bringing about Your discipline upon me? God, I pray that You enlighten and guide me so that I may understand Your intention in this illness.” Later, I suddenly realized that in the matter that recently came upon me concerning my sister, I had been living in my affection and always wanting to set aside my duties to support her, and that in this matter, I’d never sought God’s intention.

Afterward, I prayed to God and searched for His words to address my concerns. I read God’s words: “Why does a husband love his wife? Why does a wife love her husband? Why are children dutiful to their parents? Why do parents dote on their children? What sorts of intentions do people actually harbor? Is their intent not to satisfy their own plans and selfish desires? Do they truly mean to act for the sake of God’s management plan? Are they really acting for the sake of God’s work?” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together). Every one of God’s questions filled me with shame. I asked myself, “I wanted to set aside my duties and go home to talk sense into my sister, but was this in line with God’s intentions? Was I considering God’s intentions in this? No, these desires were adulterated with affection.” I was grateful for the guidance of God’s words, which prevented my impulsive foolish actions, otherwise, I would have set aside my duties and gone home driven by affection, and the consequences would have been unimaginable if I had been arrested.

Not long after, I received a letter from the brothers and sisters supervising the cleansing work, asking me to provide an account of my sister’s consistent behavior. The thought that my sister might be cleared out made me feel a bit sad. I shared my state with a sister I was living with, and she read several passages of God’s words to me. Through fellowship with the sister, I understood that God’s house is ruled by the truth and righteousness, and that God’s house will never wrong a good person, nor let an evildoer go unpunished. Since the church was compiling a record of my sister’s behavior, this was under God’s permission, and though I couldn’t see through this, I should submit first and provide what I knew about her behavior, and no matter how it turned out, I would accept it from God. Later, I saw the record of my sister’s behavior provided by brothers and sisters, and it mentioned that in recent years, my sister had only focused on earning money to support her son’s university preparations, and that she had no sense of burden for her duties. In her duties, she was always perfunctory, did things as she pleased, procrastinated in her duties, was irresponsible, and seriously delayed the church’s work. Even after the brothers and sisters repeatedly pointed out her problems and helped her, she remained the same, with no guilt or remorse. At home, she rarely ate or drank God’s words or watched the videos produced by God’s house, and she only focused on working to earn money, and eventually, she barely even attended gatherings. A sister went to support her, but she said, “When my mom was sick, she got better after believing in God, so I followed her and believed. But now that her illness has recurred, why don’t I feel God’s existence?” After saying this, she left. After many years of believing in God, her perspectives on things were still the same as a nonbeliever’s. She only focused on following evil trends, and she was unwilling to attend gatherings or do her duties. After seeing these behaviors, I was very angry, and at the same time, I discerned my sister’s essence of a disbeliever. In the early years of her belief, she seemed passionate in expending herself, and so I thought she genuinely believed in God, but now I realized that her original intentions and purpose in her faith were wrong. It was only after seeing my mom’s long-term illness miraculously healed through faith in God and how our family’s life had also gradually improved that she started believing in God, as she witnessed God’s grace and blessings. Later, when my mom became sick again, my sister saw that she wasn’t getting the benefits she wanted from believing in God, and her desire for blessings was shattered, so she turned against God, denied Him, and complained about Him, and she was completely irresponsible in her duties. She brought harm upon her duties and yet showed no guilt or regret. From my sister’s behavior, it was apparent that she wasn’t pursuing the truth at all, and wasn’t a genuine believer in God, and that her essence was that of a disbeliever.

Later, I reflected: I’d always thought that since our whole family believed in God, so long as we made sacrifices, expended ourselves for God, and followed God until the end, we would ultimately be saved. But was this view really correct? I read God’s words: “People say that God is a righteous God, and that as long as man follows Him to the very end, He will surely be impartial toward man, for He is most righteous. If man follows Him to the very end, could He cast man aside? I am impartial toward all men, and judge all men with My righteous disposition, yet there are suitable conditions to the requirements I make of man, and that which I require must be accomplished by all men, regardless of who they are. I care not how your qualifications are, or how long you have held them; I care only whether you follow My way, and whether or not you love and thirst for the truth. If you lack the truth, and instead bring shame upon My name, and do not act according to My way, merely following without care or concern, then at that time I will strike you down and punish you for your evil, and what will you have to say then? Will you be able to say that God is not righteous? If you have complied with the words I have spoken today, then you are the kind of person whom I approve of. You say you have always suffered whilst following God, that you have followed Him through storms, and have shared with Him the good times and the bad, but you have not lived out the words spoken by God; you wish only to run about for God and expend yourself for God each day, and have never thought to live out a life of meaning. You also say, ‘In any case, I believe God is righteous. I have suffered for Him, run around for Him, and devoted myself for Him, and I have worked hard despite not receiving any recognition; He is sure to remember me.’ It is true that God is righteous, yet this righteousness is untainted by any impurities: It contains no human will, and it is not tainted by the flesh, or by human transactions. All who are rebellious and in opposition, all who are not in compliance with His way, will be punished; none is forgiven, and none is spared! Some people say, ‘Today I run around for You; when the end comes, can You give me a little blessing?’ So I ask you, ‘Have you complied with My words?’ The righteousness that you speak of is based on a transaction. You think only that I am righteous and impartial toward all men, and that all those who follow Me to the very end are sure to be saved and gain My blessings. There is inner meaning to My words that ‘all those who follow Me to the very end are sure to be saved’: Those who follow Me to the very end are the ones who will be fully gained by Me, they are those who, after being conquered by Me, seek the truth and are made perfect. What conditions have you achieved? You have only achieved following Me to the very end, but what else? Have you complied with My words? You have accomplished one of My five requirements, yet you have no intention of accomplishing the remaining four. You have simply found the simplest, easiest path, and pursued it with an attitude of just hoping to get lucky. Toward such a person as you My righteous disposition is one of chastisement and judgment, it is one of righteous retribution, and it is the righteous punishment of all evildoers; all those who do not follow My way will surely be punished, even if they follow to the very end. This is the righteousness of God” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Experiences of Peter: His Knowledge of Chastisement and Judgment). After reading God’s words, I felt ashamed. People judge others based on outward appearances, but God looks at a person’s essence. God does not look at how much a person has sacrificed, how much they have suffered, or at their seniority. The key is whether a person follows God’s way, whether they practice the truth and if their disposition has changed. It is upon these things that one’s outcome is determined. But I believed that God determined a person’s outcome and destination by whether a person could follow to the end, how long they had believed, and by how much they had suffered or expended themselves. I thought that if we as a family believed in God, so long as we sacrificed and expended ourselves and followed God to the end, when God’s work ends, our whole family would have hope of being saved by God, and be brought into God’s kingdom to enjoy God’s blessings. But these were just my notions and imaginings. I also understood that being saved after having followed to the end means a person can pursue the truth and dispositional change, and can practice according to God’s words in all things, ultimately having their corrupt disposition cleansed, and that amidst various trials and refinements, they do not betray or deny God and are still able to follow and submit to God. Only such people will ultimately be saved by God and be brought into His kingdom. Those who do not pursue the truth, whose corrupt disposition shows no change, and who still rebel against and resist God, are those whom God detests. Reflecting on the two times I faced the issue of my family members being cleared out, I didn’t discern their essences. I didn’t know what kind of people God saves or eliminates, and I stood on the side of fleshly affection, wanting to run back home and meet them to talk some sense into them. I thought that as long as I fellowshipped with them and they didn’t cause disturbances afterward, they wouldn’t be cleared out. I thought if they stayed in God’s house and labored, they would have hope for salvation. But my thinking was completely inconsistent with God’s words. I thought of what the Lord Jesus said: “Not every one that said to Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that follows the will of My Father which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, and in Your name have cast out devils, and in Your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from Me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21–23). I pondered, “Why did those who sacrificed and expended themselves for the Lord not receive the Lord Jesus’ approval, and instead, were punished and cursed by the Lord?” According to my perspective, anyone who outwardly makes sacrifices and expenditures, suffers much, and follows God for many years would surely be saved. So why did the Pharisees, who’d served Jehovah year after year in the temple, not only fail to be saved by God, but instead were cursed and condemned by God, being called hypocrites, a brood of vipers, and told that woe was upon them? It was because, although they outwardly believed in God, they didn’t have God-fearing hearts, they never followed God’s way, and they even denied and resisted the Lord Jesus, and crucified Him on the cross. They severely offended God’s disposition, resulting in God punishing and cursing them. Looking back then, I’d thought that if our family believed in God, sacrificed and expended for God, and followed God to the end, we would be saved and enter the kingdom of heaven. But this was all just my wishful thinking, notions, and imaginings. This was absurd and nonsensical, and without any base in reality! I was making evaluations based on my notions and imaginings, even wanting to keep my family in the church to labor, thinking that in the end, God would give them a good outcome and destination. I was truly foolish and blind! Based on their essence and the path they walked, they were exactly the tares revealed by God’s work of the last days. They had no love for the truth and didn’t accept it, and even if they reluctantly stayed on in God’s house, they could not be saved and would still be eliminated by God.

I continued to reflect, “When facing my family members being cleared out, I could never stand on God’s side. In terms of the root of this, what was I being controlled by?” I read God’s words: “What are feelings, in essence? They are a kind of corrupt disposition. The manifestations of feelings can be described using several words: favoritism, unprincipled protection of others, maintenance of physical relationships, and partiality; these are what feelings are. What are the likely consequences of people’s having feelings and living by them? Why does God most loathe people’s feelings? Some people are always constrained by their feelings, they cannot put the truth into practice, and though they wish to submit to God, they cannot, so they feel tormented by their feelings. There are many people who understand the truth but cannot put it into practice; this, too, is because they are constrained by feelings” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. What Is the Truth Reality?). “Some people are extremely sentimental. Every day, in all that they say, and in all of the ways they behave toward others, they live by their feelings. They feel things for this person and that person, and they spend their days attending to matters of relationships and feelings. In everything they encounter, they live in the realm of feelings. When such a person’s nonbelieving relative dies, they will cry for three days and not allow the body to be buried. They still have feelings for the deceased and their feelings are too acute. You could say that feelings are this person’s fatal flaw. They are constrained by their feelings in all matters, they are incapable of practicing the truth or acting according to principle, and they are often prone to rebel against God. Feelings are their greatest weakness, their fatal flaw, and their feelings are entirely able to bring them to ruin and destroy them. People who are overly sentimental are incapable of putting the truth into practice or submitting to God. They are preoccupied with the flesh and they are foolish and muddleheaded. It is that sort of person’s nature to be very sentimental, and they live by their feelings” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. How to Know Man’s Nature). It was from God’s words that I finally saw that when facing my father and sister being cleared out, I wanted to run back to support them, the root cause being that I was constrained by affection. I valued my affection toward my family above everything, even above truth principles. I was living according to the satanic principles of “Blood is thicker than water,” “Family sticks together,” and “Man is not inanimate; how can he be free from feelings?” I failed to distinguish right from wrong, and I lost my standing and principles. In fact, if I didn’t understand their behavior, I could have clarified it by writing to the church. I also could have discerned their essence according to truth principles, to see whether they were truly to be treated with loving help. But if they weren’t to be helped, then even if they were family, I shouldn’t blindly show kindness based on affection. But I didn’t think that way, and I first stood on the side of affection, feeling sorrow and crying for them, and not focusing on my duty. I even thought about running back to support them, disregarding the danger. When the church asked me to provide a record of their behavior, I only considered the fleshly bond of family, and all I could think about was their kindness toward me. I was blinded by affection and didn’t protect the interests of God’s house, and I even wanted to use tricks and deception to protect my family, not considering at all how much damage keeping them in God’s house would bring upon the church’s work. I saw that affection was my Achilles’ heel, and that they’d become an obstacle and stumbling block to my practicing the truth. I relied on my fleshly affection to treat my father and sister with conscience and love, without seeking God’s intention at all. I didn’t know their behaviors but blindly wanted to run and support them. Was this not foolish love? If I ran back home, not only would I fall into the temptation of affection, but my state would be disturbed, my duty would be delayed, and most importantly, with my police record, if I was captured by the great red dragon, it would impact the work. Would this not create disruptions and disturbances? Realizing this, I felt some lingering fear, and I thanked God for revealing me, otherwise, I wouldn’t have seen clearly the harm and consequences of living according to affection, and I would have been ruined by affection without realizing it. I had to let go of affection and treat my family according to truth principles. I couldn’t be sad anymore about my father and sister being cleared out by the church, as it was entirely God’s righteousness. The blisters on their feet had been caused by their own path, and they had nobody to blame but themselves.

Later, I read more of God’s words: “One day, when you understand some of the truth, you will no longer think that your mother is the best person, or that your parents are the best people. You will realize that they are also members of the corrupt human race, and that their corrupt dispositions are all the same. All that sets them apart is the physical blood relationship with you. If they don’t believe in God, then they are the same as the nonbelievers. You will no longer look at them from the perspective of a family member, or from the perspective of your fleshly relationship, but from the side of the truth. What are the main aspects you should look at? You should look at their views on belief in God, their views on the world, their views on handling matters, and most importantly, their attitudes toward God. If you assess these aspects accurately, you will be able to see clearly whether they are good or bad people. … Once you have truly walked away from these feelings, though you may still think of them from time to time, will you still miss them with all of your heart, dwell on them, and long for them the way you do now? You won’t. You won’t say: ‘The person I really can’t be without is my mother; she is the one who loves me, takes care of me, and cares for me the most.’ When you have this level of perception, will you still cry when you think of them? No. This problem will be resolved. So with problems or matters that are causing you difficulty, if you haven’t gained that aspect of the truth and if you haven’t entered into that aspect of the truth reality, you will be trapped in such difficulties or states, and you will never be able to come out from them. If you treat these kinds of difficulties and problems as the key problems of life entry and then seek the truth to resolve them, then you will be able to enter into this aspect of the truth reality; unwittingly, you will learn your lesson from these difficulties and problems. When the problems are resolved, you will feel that you are not as close to your parents and family members, you will more clearly see their nature essence, and you will see what kind of people they truly are. When you see your loved ones clearly, you will say: ‘My mother does not accept the truth at all; she is actually averse to the truth and hates it. In her essence, she is an evil person, a devil. My father is a people pleaser, standing on the side of my mother. He neither accepts nor practices the truth at all; he is not someone who pursues the truth. Based on my mother’s and father’s behavior, the two of them are disbelievers; they are both devils. I have to completely rebel against them, and draw clear boundaries with them.’ In this way, you will stand on the side of the truth, and will be able to renounce them. When you are able to discern who they are, what kind of people they are, will you still have feelings for them? Will you still feel affection for them? Will you still have a fleshly relationship with them? You will not. Will you still need to restrain your feelings? (No.) So what do you actually rely on to resolve these difficulties? You rely on understanding the truth, on depending on God, and looking up to God” (The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only Resolving One’s Corrupt Disposition Can Bring About True Transformation). From God’s words, I found the way to let go of affection. When it comes to family members, first, we must discern and see through to who they are according to God’s words, and once we see through to their nature essences, we will know how to treat them in accordance with truth principles. For family members who pursue and love the truth, if they don’t understand the truth and reveal corruption, or if they can’t see through the world’s evil trends and momentarily go astray, we can follow truth principles and help them with love where needed, and expose and prune them where necessary. But if they are averse to the truth, hate the truth, and do not pursue the truth at all, then based on God’s words, once we have discerned their essence as disbelievers, absurd types, and evil people, we cannot confusedly love them, nor can we blindly offer them help or support based on love. We must distinguish love from hate, hate and reject them in our hearts, and draw a clear line between us and them. At the same time, I also understood that while on the surface, I have a blood relationship with my father and sister, and they are my family, their essences are of the devil, they are disbelievers, they are not among those God wants to save, and they do not walk the same path as me. Once I understood this aspect of the truth, I was no longer constrained by affection.

After experiencing this matter of my family members being cleared out, I gained discernment about the essences of my father and sister, and I saw through the dangers of living according to affection. My heart is no longer disturbed or constrained by affection, and I can calm my heart in my duty. My being able to gain this understanding and entry was all a result of God’s words working upon me. Thank God!