I

If God were to place some money before you right now

and give you the freedom to choose—

and if He did not condemn you for your choice—

then most of you would choose the money and forsake the truth.

The better among you would give up the money

and choose the truth reluctantly,

while those in-between would seize the money in one hand

and the truth in the other.

Would your true colors thus not become self-evident?

When choosing between the truth and anything to which you are loyal,

you would all make this choice,

and your attitude would remain the same.

Is that not so?

Are there not many among you who have seesawed between right and wrong?

II

In contests between positive and negative, black and white,

you are surely aware of the choices that you have made

between family and God, children and God,

peace and disruption, riches and poverty,

status and ordinariness, being supported and being cast aside, and so on.

Between a peaceful family and a broken one,

you chose the former, and you did so without any hesitation;

between riches and duty, you again chose the former,

even lacking the will to return to shore;

between luxury and poverty, you chose the former;

when choosing between your sons, daughters, wives and husbands, and God,

you chose the former;

and between notion and truth, you once again chose the former.

Faced with all manner of your evil deeds,

God has simply lost faith in you.

It simply astounds Him that your hearts are so resistant to being softened.

It simply astounds Him that your hearts are so resistant to being softened.

III

Many years of dedication and effort have apparently brought God

nothing more than your abandonment and despair,

your abandonment and despair,

but His hopes for you grow with each passing day,

for His day has been completely laid bare before everyone.

Yet you persist in seeking dark and evil things,

and refuse to loosen your grip on them.

What, then, will be your outcome?

Have you ever given careful consideration to this?

If you were asked to choose again, what then would be your position?

Would it still be the former?

Would you still bring God disappointment and wretched sorrow?

Would your hearts still possess that little warmth?

Would you still be unaware of what to do to comfort God's heart?

from The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. To Whom Are You Loyal?