Everyone wants to gain blessings. No one wants to be destroyed and sent to hell, but in spite of themselves, many people repeatedly do evil, traveling at high speed down the path that leads to hell. Some people time and time again ignore the opportunities to do their duty given by God’s house, ignore it when the Holy Spirit moves and reproaches them, and ignore the help and expectations of God’s house. They insist on being perfunctory, running riot doing bad things, acting arbitrarily and recklessly, and disrupting and disturbing the church’s work, without reflecting on themselves in the slightest. Are they not just incorrigible, shameless people? You constantly commit evil like this. It is not the case that others force you to do it—it is obviously your personal choice, something you personally like and are happy to do. If someone says that the path you are walking is one of resisting God and one that leads to hell, you feel upset and negative. What are you feeling negative about? Did you not bring this upon yourself and reap what you sowed? Does it not serve you right? Some people say, “I commit evil involuntarily. Every time, I want to do things well, but after I’m done, I find that the consequences of my actions are not very good.” You have committed evil, caused disruptions and disturbances, and brought losses to the church’s work. Even if you are not held accountable for your transgressions, they’ve left hidden risks in their wake, and you could commit them again in the future. This is very dangerous. It is just like a path that a person has walked down—wherever they’ve walked, they are bound to leave traces. Do you recognize the transgressions you have committed? Do you feel remorse for them? Do you feel indebted and sad? Do you cry bitterly because of them? Have you turned around? Do you truly hate your evil deeds? Have you let go of the evil that is in your hands and genuinely repented to God? Some people say: “I also hate myself. I’ve slapped myself in the face countless times in private, and I have also knelt before God, crying bitterly in prayer.” You may have gone through these processes, but God does not look at these processes. What God looks at is your manifestations. When the same situation arises again or the same duty falls to you again, how do you treat it? Do you have sincerity and loyalty? Can you pay a price? Can you act according to God’s words? What are the manifestations of your turning around? Have you let go of the evil that is in your hands? Are you still continuing to do the evil things that you did in the past? Are you still lying, still acting arbitrarily and recklessly, still going against work arrangements and the truth principles, still acting according to your own ambitions and desires, and still colluding with evil people to disrupt and disturb church work? If you still act like this, then your repentance and bitter crying are false and perfunctory. What is perfunctory, false repentance characterized as? (Hypocrisy.) Is it characterized as hypocrisy? It is characterized as deception. Is this statement accurate? (Yes.) In God’s eyes, such bitter crying and such repentance are deception. For example, God says, “Offer Me ten pounds of rice from this year’s harvest.” Some people are unwilling to offer it and want to keep it for themselves to eat, so they take ten pounds of rice husks and place them on the altar. When asked what it is, they say it is paddy. God says, “Did I not ask you for rice?” They say, “Paddy is rice.” Is this deception? (Yes.) This is brazen deception. After doing evil, you confess your sin, repeatedly say you are indebted to God, and even cry bitterly, but afterward, you act as if nothing happened and continue doing things the same way as before. God characterizes this kind of behavior as deception. In God’s eyes, this kind of deceptive behavior is equivalent to evil deeds. If you truly have the determination to change and to act according to the truth principles, you do not need to make resolutions or cry bitterly. Do it first—make a vow to God when you can do it. If you cannot do it, then you absolutely mustn’t make a vow. If you make a vow, God will take it seriously and will require the result of what you vowed. If you cannot fulfill it, in God’s eyes that is deception—deceiving God becomes yet another evil deed recorded against you. So, if you cannot genuinely repent and instead deceive God with your vows, then the path you are walking is one that leads to destruction. Each of your evil deeds is a strike on the gates of hell; perhaps one of these strikes will finally open them, and the time of your death will have then arrived. It can be said that for some people, from the time they started believing in God until now, all of their actions and behaviors have been those of constantly accumulating evil deeds and striking on the gates of hell, and at the same time, those of accumulating God’s anger; they are waiting for God’s punishment to descend upon them. Other people, however, are progressing in a positive and correct direction in the process of believing in God. The path they walk is the road to the kingdom of heaven. During this period, although they are rebellious and reveal corrupt dispositions, and they of course also have notions and imaginings about God, and have their own will in doing their duty, while revealing these manifestations or engaging in these behaviors, they are also continuously accepting the truth, and continuously casting off their corrupt dispositions and having them transformed; they have genuinely turned around, and have the manifestations and reality of accepting and submitting to the truth. Although such people once committed many transgressions and did some things that God detests and condemns, they gradually cast off their corrupt dispositions and no longer do evil after understanding the truth and turning around. With their turning around, and their determination and resolve to endure hardship and pay a price for the truth, they move God. At the same time, their efforts and actions, and the good deeds they prepare gradually gain God’s acceptance and approval, and these things are also remembered by God. Judging from the overall manifestations of such people, they are—as you often say—basically right people. The path that these right people walk is the path that leads to the kingdom of heaven, the path that leads to salvation. Such people are walking on the path of salvation. Of course, the manifestations of these people are basically not the result of others’ pushing, supervision, management, or pruning, nor of the regulation of church’s administrative decrees. Instead, they proactively turn around, and, in their life entry, they have their own personal plans and designs, as well as their own proactive resolve. The path these people walk is the correct path. They are preparing good deeds for their own destination with these positive, proactive manifestations. It is their personal, subjective pursuit that determines the path they take and determines God’s attitude toward them. Ultimately, because of their personal, subjective pursuit, they are able to receive from God a suitable verdict and a suitable destination.

Tell Me, how should people do just deeds, and what state and condition must they do this in, in order for it to be considered preparing good deeds? At the very least, they must have a positive and proactive attitude, and, while doing their duty, they must be loyal, be able to act according to the truth principles, and safeguard the interests of God’s house. Being positive and proactive is the key. If you are always passive, this is problematic. It is as if you are not a member of God’s house; you are not doing your duty, rather you have no choice but to do it at the behest of an employer in order to get a salary—you do not do it voluntarily. Even if you do a bit of it, you are doing it because you have to, and you are doing it passively. If your interests weren’t involved, you simply would not do it, or if no one supervised you, you absolutely would not do it. Such negative and passive actions are not good deeds. Therefore, this type of person is very foolish. They are very passive in doing positive things and doing what they ought to do—they don’t do the things they can think of, nor do they do things they are capable of that require time and energy, they just wait and watch from the sidelines, thinking it is best if others do them. This is troublesome, and it is very difficult for them to do their duty well. Firstly, it’s not that your caliber is inadequate; secondly, it’s not that your experience is insufficient; thirdly, it’s not that you don’t have the right conditions to do it. You possess the caliber to do this work, and if you spend the time and energy, you will be able to do it, but you do not, you fail to prepare good deeds. This is very regrettable. Why do I say that it’s regrettable? It’s because if you look back on this after many years, you will feel regret, and if you want to go back to that year, that month, and that day, to do that work, things will have changed and that time will have already passed. You will not get a second chance like that one; when that opportunity passes, it passes, when it is lost, it is lost. If you lose out on fleshly pleasures like eating nice food or wearing nice clothes, this doesn’t matter much, because these things are hollow, and they do not have any impact on your life entry or your preparation of good deeds, or on your destination. However, if something relates to God’s attitude toward and evaluation of you, or even to the path you walk and your destination, then losing the opportunity to do it is very regrettable. This is because it will leave behind a stain and give rise to regrets on your future path of existence, and in your whole life you will never have another chance to make up for it. Isn’t this regrettable? If your caliber is too poor and you cannot undertake this work, then that is not regrettable—God’s house can arrange for someone else to do it. If you are capable of doing this well, but you do not do it, that is extremely regrettable. This is an opportunity given to you by God, but you don’t take it seriously, you don’t seize hold of this opportunity, and you allow it to slip through your fingers—this is too regrettable! For you, it is regrettable; for God, it is disappointing. God has given you sufficient caliber and superior conditions, allowing you to see some things clearly and be competent for this work. However, you do not have the right attitude toward your duty, you have no sincerity, much less devotion, and you do not want to try your best to do it well. This greatly disappoints God. So, if you are lazy and always feel that the work assigned to you is troublesome and do not want to do it, and you inwardly grumble, “Why am I being asked to do it and not someone else?” then this is a foolish thought. When a duty falls to you, it’s not an unfortunate event, it’s an honor, and it’s God’s exaltation. You should happily accept it and do the duty you ought to do; it’s not going to wear you out. On the contrary, if you do your duty well, understand the truth and resolve problems, you will feel at peace and grounded in your heart, and you won’t have disappointed God. Before God, you will have faith and be able to conduct yourself with your head held high. If you haven’t fulfilled your duty and are always perfunctory, this is a transgression, and even if you haven’t caused any losses, this transgression will leave a lifelong regret in your heart. This transgression will be like a bottomless black hole; whenever you think of it, you will feel pain and unease, an agony that pierces the heart. Not only will you have no peace or joy, but on the contrary, the pain of remorse and torment will accompany you for your entire life and can never be erased. Is this not an eternal regret? And what about from God’s perspective? God uses the truth principles to characterize this matter, so the nature of it is far more serious than what you feel. Do you understand? (Yes.) So, God will comprehensively consider your usual performance, and your attitude toward the truth and your duty, to view the path you are walking. Suppose that your attitude toward the truth and your duty is always perfunctory, and you make promises on the surface but do not put them into practice behind the scenes, and you dillydally and drag your feet, and do not have a positive attitude of being considerate of God’s intentions. Even though outwardly you don’t cause disruptions and disturbances, do evil, act arbitrarily and recklessly or run amok committing misdeeds, and you appear to be a rule-abiding and quite well-behaved person, you don’t positively and proactively do what God asks of you but instead you’re wily and slack off, and avoid doing real work. In that case, just what path are you really walking? Even if it’s not the path of an antichrist, at the very least it’s the path of a false leader.

Some people appear to have submission in doing their duty, doing whatever the Above arranges. But when asked, “Do you do your duty perfunctorily? Do you do it according to the principles?” they cannot provide any definite answers, only saying, “I do as the Above instructs and dare not run amok committing misdeeds.” When asked if they have fulfilled their responsibility, they say, “Well, I’m doing what I’m supposed to.” They always have this kind of attitude in doing their duty, unhurried and indifferent. Although no obvious problems have arisen, if measured according to the truth principles, their performance of their duty is inefficient and not up to standard. But they do not care. They still act in the same perfunctory way as they did in the past, and they are still just as passive when it comes to things they should take the initiative to do—they haven’t changed at all. Aren’t they shamelessly stubborn? They always maintain this attitude: “You may have a thousand brilliant plans, but I have my own set of rules. This is just how I am. Let’s see what you can do to me. This is my attitude!” They haven’t done anything immensely treacherous or evil, but they have also done few good deeds. What path would you say they are walking? Is this kind of attitude toward belief in God and one’s duty good? (No.) In the Book of Revelation in the Bible, God says this: “So then because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of My mouth” (Revelation 3:16). Being lukewarm, neither cold nor hot—is this attitude good? (No.) This type of person also has their own set of calculations in their mind: “As long as I don’t commit evil or disrupt the church’s work in the performance of my duty, I won’t be condemned. If doing my duty well is too exhausting and requires too much suffering, I won’t do it. I won’t tire myself out, but I won’t make major mistakes either. That way, I won’t be cleared out or eliminated, and I’m still much better than those who don’t do a duty. So I stay lukewarm, neither cold nor hot. Whatever you ask me to do, I will do it. But if you don’t tell me to do something, I won’t intervene. This way, I won’t get tired, and on top of that people won’t be able to find fault with me. This approach is great!” Is this way of conducting oneself good? (No.) You know that it is not good, so how should your practice change? If you never seek to walk the path of pursuing the truth and still persist in living by Satan’s philosophies, then you are doomed to have no hope of attaining salvation. If you conduct yourself in the world in this way, then you will indeed have an advantage. Your philosophy for and attitude toward worldly dealings will protect you, and you will also not offend people. Moreover, those upper-class people with prestige and reputation will not feel that you are a threat to them and they will all appreciate you a lot. Those lower-class people without status will also not dare to offend you. So, you will be quite popular—to both lower-class people and upper-class people, you will be someone they seek to win over, you will be a hot commodity, and you will be able to navigate all circles, high and low, good and bad, with ease. However, if you still use this kind of attitude toward worldly dealings in God’s house and before God, it will not work. All the various principles that involve the truth require an attitude from you, and this attitude is either right or wrong, either black or white, either true or false—it is particularly clear, and particularly principled. They require your stance and your accurate viewpoint, rather than your middle-of-the-road approach. Those who take a middle-of-the-road approach cannot stand firm before the truth. Do not think, “Look at how clever my way of living is. I learned to protect myself using this method since I was a child, and looking back on my life up to now, I feel this method is so practical. After coming to believe in God, I still live by this method. In the years that I’ve believed in God, I haven’t been pruned, I haven’t failed significantly in doing my duty, I haven’t been subjected to any major refinement or trials, and God has never condemned or spurned me. Look how successful I am at conducting myself, how skilled I am at it!” You are wrong! You do not know how to conduct yourself—you use a slick method to approach every matter and to approach the truth. This method is utterly wrong, and you cannot stand firm doing this. Do not have a mindset of relying on luck, thinking, “I used to do this and always succeeded. I never failed, and never lost face or showed my ignorance. Now that I believe in God, I will still persist in this most sophisticated strategy for worldly dealings.” I say this is foolish of you! Why does God speak so many words to save people? It is precisely to enable people, under the guidance of these words, to understand what the right path in life is and what kind of path people should walk; it is to let you choose—it is not to let you coast along opportunistically here. If it were to let you coast along opportunistically, then God would not speak these words or do this work. Why is it that, in our fellowship about various matters, all things that go against the truth are made crystal clear? It is precisely to tell you what positive things are and what negative things are, so that you can distinguish them clearly and see them plainly. Positive things and negative things are entirely open, revealed, and transparent before God—they are not murky. Therefore, God requires you to be clear in doing anything and in choosing your path—your attitude must be clear, and your thoughts and viewpoints must be clear; there must be nothing ambiguous. What involves the truth and the truth principles contains nothing ambiguous—black is black, white is white, yes is yes, no is no. A lie, even if told a thousand times, is still a lie and can never become the truth. The truth, even if few in the world accept it, or if many nations reject and condemn it, remains the truth. The truth is always the truth and absolutely will not become a fallacy or heresy. No matter how many people follow negative things which are of Satan or how many years they have become a worldly trend, they are still negative things and are still of Satan—they will never turn into positive things. Conversely, positive things, even if they are attacked, suppressed, and condemned in this world, remain positive things and will never become negative things. God is forever God, forever the embodiment of justice, and forever the representative of all positive things. God’s status is unchanging, and His essence is unchanging. Satan, meanwhile, is forever Satan, forever the embodiment of evil, forever the representative of the axis of evil, forever negative, and it will never become a positive thing.

Some people say, “You have to be flexible living in the church. Don’t lean too far in either direction. Don’t accept the truth, but don’t be averse to it either; don’t offend positive figures or negative ones. It’s best to just be a fence-sitter. I don’t oppose positive things, and I don’t criticize negative things. I don’t fawn over or try to curry favor with people who pursue the truth, nor do I get close to them. I don’t distance myself from antichrists either. What can you do to me? Look at how clearly I understand life!” Is this understanding clearly? This is not understanding clearly; this is foolishness. This is being muddleheaded and unable to distinguish right from wrong. Such a person is a muddleheaded person. I tell you, this kind of double-dealer is simply no good. What will the final result of living this way be? (They will have no outcome and no destination.) They will have ruined their own destination. Although they do not oppose positive things, in essence, they have not accepted positive things either. Not opposing is not the same as accepting, and not criticizing negative things is not the same as letting them go. Do you think that by not accepting positive things and not criticizing negative things, you have let go of negative things and negative viewpoints? You cannot let them go. Only by accepting positive things and accepting the truth can people’s negative thoughts and viewpoints, as well as the wicked thoughts and viewpoints that are of Satan, gradually be let go of and broken down; only then can people accept positive thoughts and viewpoints, along with the practices, insights, understanding, and criteria that align with the truth principles. In other words, if you want to accept positive thoughts and viewpoints, if you want to accept the truth, if you want the truth to enter into you and become your life, you must first empty yourself of what is within, and then accept the truth and allow the truth to enter you and hold power in your heart. This is having the truth as life. Pursuing the truth is practiced in this way. The primary purpose of believing in God is to gain the truth. You must be able to discern various thoughts and viewpoints that go against the truth. Especially if you are the kind of person who follows Satan’s philosophy, you must let go of the slick thoughts and viewpoints of the middle-of-the-road approach, and consciously rebel against them. When such thoughts and viewpoints arise in situations you encounter, you must realize that they are wrong and you must think: “What do God’s words say? What does God require? Whichever way of acting accords with the truth principles, I will take the initiative and strive to act accordingly, not letting the thoughts and viewpoints of the middle-of-the-road approach govern me or hinder me from practicing the truth. Instead, I must let God’s words, the truth, become the criteria for my conduct and actions, and for my performance of my duty.” Practicing in this way will bring about a different result. Even if it is a very small matter and not worthy of God’s remembrance, at least, God will not condemn it. As your actions accumulate bit by bit in this way, your good deeds will gradually be prepared little by little. If your actions can be considered good deeds in God’s eyes, then you will have hope. You will begin to have a correct and positive direction and goal, and you will begin to become a positive person, a right person. In this way, you will have distanced yourself from the path of destruction leading to hell and gradually turned toward the path leading to the kingdom of heaven. This is a good result of a person being able to turn around. Is this easy to achieve? That depends on the extent to which one loves the truth. If you make a mistake and only say: “I really hate myself! How could I do such a base, vile thing? I’m really itching to give myself a couple of slaps on the face!” just hating yourself, that won’t be of any use. The key thing is that, when you make a mistake, you must be able to discern what is wrong with it, what has driven you to do it, why you are unable to practice the truth, what the root cause is, and what the basis and principles of your actions are. The key thing is also whether, when faced with some matter, you are consciously acting according to God’s words and consciously rebelling against your satanic thoughts and views, your ambitions and desires, and your intentions and plans. If you have consciously done all these things, then you have prepared good deeds, and this is a great thing, and you have gained something. Is this kind of result good? Is this the result you wish to see? Is this what you want to pursue? (Yes.) What kind of viewpoint do most people hold now? It is this: “I do not commit evil or cause disruptions and disturbances. As long as I am not cleared out of the full-time duty church, then everything is fine. Although I have not prepared many good deeds, and in my duty I am not very loyal, don’t have much sincerity, and don’t earnestly practice according to the truth principles, as long as I do not do evil or cause disruptions and disturbances, isn’t that enough?” How’s this viewpoint? This is a degenerate thought and viewpoint—it is one that does not seek progress. You absolutely mustn’t think that as long as you do not do evil or cause disruptions and disturbances, you are a good person, a noble person, you can stand firm, and what you do aligns with the truth. I tell you, that is wrong—this is a foolish way of thinking! Not doing evil is not equivalent to preparing good deeds. Not doing evil and preparing good deeds are two different concepts. Doing a duty without doing evil is what a created being is supposed to do; it is a manifestation that should be possessed by those who have the conscience and reason of normal humanity. For example, some people say: “There are people who commit murder, but I haven’t done that; that person stole things from other people, but I haven’t done that. This means that I’m a good person.” Is that worth boasting about? Is their assertion correct? (It’s not.) This is confusing concepts. Not being a thief, not committing murder or arson, and not engaging in illicit sexual relations, isn’t the same as being a good person. Not committing evil or breaking the law is a different concept from being a good person. Being a good person has its own standards. Not doing evil and preparing good deeds are also two separate concepts. Doing your duty without doing evil is something you should achieve as a normal person. But preparing good deeds means that you must proactively and positively practice the truth and fulfill your duty according to God’s requirements and the truth principles. You must have loyalty, be willing to endure hardships and pay a price, be willing to take responsibility, and be able to act positively and proactively. Actions done according to these principles are basically all good deeds. Regardless of whether they are big or small matters, whether they are worthy of being remembered by people or not, whether they are regarded highly by people or considered insignificant, or whether people think they are worthy of attention, in God’s eyes, they are all good deeds. If you have prepared good deeds, it will ultimately bring you blessings, not calamities. Some people don’t prepare any good deeds at all and are just content with the following: “I do whatever I’m told to do and go wherever I’m told to go. I never speak or act in an arbitrary manner, and I never mischievously stir up trouble or cause disruptions and disturbances. I really am obedient and well-behaved.” They always harbor this kind of attitude. They do not actively seek the truth or adhere to principles in the performance of their duty. When they discover their own deviations and mistakes, they do not promptly correct or change them. When they discover that they have been rebellious and revealed corrupt dispositions, they never reflect on themselves, nor do they actively seek the truth to resolve the problem; instead, they just do whatever they want. Although they have not committed any great evil that would cause the interests of God’s house to suffer losses, they have still affected the progress of the church’s work. At best, their performance of their duty is just laboring, and laboring, by nature, falls short of being a good deed. So how are good deeds ultimately defined? It is when what you do is at the very least helpful for your own life entry and that of the brothers and sisters, and beneficial to the work of God’s house. If it is beneficial to yourself, to others, and to God’s house, then your performance is effective before God and approved of by God. God will give you a score. So, evaluate these things: How many good deeds have you prepared over the years? Can these good deeds offset your transgressions? After offsetting them, how many good deeds are left? You need to score yourself and have a firm grasp of this; you mustn’t be muddled about this matter.

Tell Me, is My fellowship on these matters necessary? (Yes.) I must speak these words to you, and give you some pointers. The purpose of giving you pointers is not to dispel your enthusiasm, nor to laugh at you, much less to condemn you, but to give you a reminder, to sound a warning bell, so that you know—right now, at present, currently—what situation you are in, what your state is, and what the potential dangers are. You must be clear about these things in your hearts. In their belief in God, people must constantly and frequently examine what their state before God is. They must constantly and clearly know what their relationship with God is like, whether conflicts and barriers exist between them and God, whether they have notions and misunderstandings about God, whether they have unreasonable demands of God, and how God views their overall manifestations. People must understand and know these things; this is greatly beneficial to their life entry. The purpose of practicing in this way is to ensure that people can accurately act according to God’s intentions. Do not take any wrong turns, do not feel self-satisfied, and do not deceive themselves and others. Not taking any wrong turns means not following your own deviated path. You think that this performance of yours in believing in God is pretty good, so you continue walking this way. It turns out, however, that you have deviated from the right path; God has long since abandoned you, and the Holy Spirit has stopped working in you. God detests you, yet you still think that you’re doing well in your belief: “I have gained things from believing in God. I can endure hardship now, I don’t do evil now, I know how to avoid causing disruptions, and I now know why those who cause disruptions and disturbances are cleared out or isolated, and why they are not allowed to do a duty.” It is not enough to know these things. You must know how to act so as to follow God’s way, how to practice so as to walk on the right path, and how to act so as to be able to attain salvation. All of these are very important; you must conduct reviews and draw conclusions at regular intervals. That’s all for this topic. Let’s continue fellowshipping on the topic we have been fellowshipping on during this period.