The First Practice for Pursuing the Truth: Letting Go

Letting Go of the Barriers Between Oneself and God and One’s Hostility Toward God

I. Letting Go of One’s Notions and Imaginings About God: Letting Go of One’s Notions and Imaginings About God’s Work

F. God’s Work Does Not Change People’s Innate Conditions; It Aims to Change Their Corrupt Dispositions

6. Various Manifestations of Innate Conditions, Humanity, and Corrupt Dispositions

Our fellowship during this period has been about a specific topic involved in the principle of practice of “letting go” within how to pursue the truth—innate conditions, humanity, and corrupt dispositions. After fellowshipping on this multiple times, do you now have a bit of discernment regarding some specific manifestations and revelations that involve these three aspects—innate conditions, humanity, and corrupt dispositions? (My discernment of these things is somewhat better than before. Previously, I would often get character and corrupt dispositions mixed up, but through God’s past few fellowships, I can now distinguish them to some extent.) Why is it necessary to differentiate these things? (It is so that we know which problems within ourselves must be resolved and which ones we just need to approach correctly.) Well said. Fellowshipping in such detail makes the distinctions between innate conditions, humanity, and corrupt dispositions clearer, and people gain a clearer understanding of corrupt dispositions and manifestations of extremely poor character, which are two separate things. In particular, people are able to distinguish between bad character, corrupt dispositions, and innate conditions. They will not regard certain defects in humanity as corrupt dispositions, and of course, they will also not regard certain inadequacies and defects within innate conditions as corrupt dispositions. When people have this discernment, they become increasingly clear about the various manifestations of corrupt dispositions, and they no longer make mountains out of molehills concerning problems that do not involve corrupt dispositions. At the same time, they also have a clearer understanding of what corrupt dispositions actually are. So can you clearly explain what exactly corrupt dispositions are? Do corrupt dispositions have any connection with innate conditions? Are they influenced by innate conditions? (No.) Suppose that a person is good-looking, fair-skinned, and has well-proportioned features—can it be said that because they have a good appearance, they have no corrupt dispositions, that their humanity is as perfect and pure as their looks, that they are not at all arrogant or wicked but exceptionally holy? Can this be said? (No.) Having fellowshipped like this, the distinctions between these three aspects—corrupt dispositions, innate conditions, and humanity—are basically clear now, right? (Yes.) They are easy to discern.

Being Skilled at Doing Business

Last time, we fellowshipped about loving to do business. Under which aspect should this manifestation of loving and liking to do business be categorized? (Innate conditions.) Why is it considered an innate condition? (It is an interest and a hobby, so it counts as an innate condition.) For one thing, it is an interest and a hobby; for another, if a person loves to do business and has a mind for business—they are naturally skilled at it without having engaged in professional studies, and are able to understand it and know how to make money, generate profit, seize business opportunities, and so on without guidance from others—then this person possesses a strength in doing business within their innate conditions. If a person innately possesses this strength, then it is certainly an innate condition, and innate conditions have little to do with influences received after birth. You see, some people start learning to do business at 15 or 16 years old while still in school. Whenever they’ve got something good, they think up ways to sell it. They even sell the birthday gifts their parents give them. They don’t spend their own pocket money, and instead save it all up to do business. By the time they are 18 or 19, they are already able to operate small business ventures. Their grades in school are just average, but they have a head for doing business, are quick at calculations, and they have a particular knack for business—this is a strength. Loving to do business falls under the categories of strengths or of interests and hobbies within innate conditions. In any case, it is an aspect of innate conditions, and this is where the manifestation of loving to do business is classified. Some people do not necessarily have a hobby or strength related to business. They mainly rely on cheating and scamming people when they do business. They do not make money through their own hard work and striving or by using legitimate business means and methods, but rather use fraud and deception in all forms and the exploitation of legal loopholes to achieve their goal of generating profit and making money. What kind of problem is this? Such people consistently conduct business in this way—does this involve the substance of their humanity? (Yes.) Is such humanity good or bad? (It’s bad.) How is it bad? When it comes to the humanity of such people, generally speaking, they have bad character. People’s aim in doing business is always to make money. If you earn money through legitimate means of conducting business, this is an ability that you have, and it is a benefit brought by the strength God has given you. But if someone does not obtain money and profit through legitimate means of conducting business, but through fraud and deception in all forms, then such people are devoid of integrity and have low character. Do such people have a conscience? (No.) In colloquial terms, their conscience is completely rotten—they have no conscience. Why do we say they have no conscience? (Generally, people who have a conscience feel accusation from it after they cheat and scam other people, and they do not do those things anymore. However, people who do not have a conscience only care about gaining profit. Their conscience has no awareness at all, so they just keep doing those things.) They don’t have the function of conscience; it can also be said that they have no conscience. If they had a conscience, their conscience would function, and then after scamming someone once, they would feel self-reproach from their conscience. Even though they made a profit, they would feel terrible inside. When they spent the money, their face would flush, and they would feel uneasy inside, feeling that what they did was dirty and base. Thus, from then on, they would never scam anyone again; no matter how big the potential profit was, they would never do it—this is the function of conscience. But those who are skilled at cheating, duping, and scamming others will do this every time they want to. After they succeed, they don’t feel bad in their hearts when they spend the money. Once they’ve gotten their hands on the money, they think that they’re clever and brilliant, and feel delighted by and especially proud of the success of their scamming strategies. They sell goods with short weight, they sell fake medicine, fake ginseng, water-injected meat—everything they sell is adulterated and deceptive. Every business venture they engage in involves scamming tactics and traps, and all the money they make is obtained through fraudulent means. No matter what business they engage in, they never conduct it in a rule-abiding way by charging the proper price. You see, some people specifically scam regular customers when doing business. For example, if you frequently buy from them and they know you have money, they will charge you 100 yuan for an item they sell to others for 10 yuan. They will even say, “I don’t sell this to anyone else—I keep it just for you. See what a strong relationship we have? You’re getting a good deal, aren’t you?” They scam people and even get them to feel grateful—what skilled scammers they are! People who do not have any sense of self-accusation in their conscience feel no reproach or awareness in their conscience no matter what they do, so it can be said that such people have no conscience. Regardless of how their reason is, just judging by their conscience alone, these people are devoid of humanity and have low character. To what extent is it low? They have no conscience and no humanity. That is, they lack the awareness, function, and restraints of conscience that normal people have. Without these restraints, they are capable of doing anything. In doing business, they can engage in cheating and scamming; in any business operations, they can rig things and break the rules. They can commit any immoral act. Even when they build houses, they use shoddy materials. You see—what is the cause of those tilted buildings and building collapses in mainland China? It is because, in order to make exorbitant profits, the builders adopted substandard concrete mix ratios and steel rebar usage techniques, which already affected the condition of the buildings. As a result, not long after people move in, some buildings collapse. If there were a magnitude five or six earthquake, most of the buildings would collapse, and the consequences would be unimaginable. Those black-hearted contractors have no conscience at all—upon seeing people die, they immediately seek out their backers to take countermeasures to deal with the situation. If their backers are strong enough and have countermeasures, the matter can be successfully covered up. Those few deaths are brushed off with some funeral expenses, and no one will be able to hold them accountable at all. Their conscience has no awareness; to say nothing of a few deaths—even if dozens, hundreds, or tens of thousands of people died, it would mean nothing to them. In their eyes, human lives are no different from those of ants—they mean nothing. Tell Me, do such people have conscience? People who do not have conscience can be said to have no humanity. So, are their actions of cheating and scamming others while doing business revelations of corrupt dispositions? (Yes.) There are specific corrupt dispositions within this. What corrupt dispositions? (Viciousness and deceitfulness.) Their characteristic and representative corrupt dispositions are deceitfulness and wickedness. Those who can engage in fraud and deception in all forms are especially deceitful. Sometimes, the means they use to scam and cheat people are ones that you would never expect, and you might even feel quite happy while you’re being scammed by them, thinking that they’re treating you quite well. Only after a long time do you wake up and suddenly realize you’ve been taken for a ride. And when you go looking for them, they’ve already disappeared without a trace. How sophisticated their means of scamming people are! In the 1980s and 1990s, industry and commerce were relatively developed in Guangdong, China. Certain comparatively advanced household appliances had not yet reached the inland areas, so some inland people traveled to Guangdong to buy them for the sake of keeping up with the trends. When the merchants realized that these customers were from the inland areas, they started thinking about how this was their chance to carry out a scam. Inland people bought tape recorders, televisions, and other appliances. After payment was made, the sellers even told them how long the warranty period was and said that if there were any issues with the appliances, they could come back for an exchange, which made the customers feel that the after-sales service was quite good. As they were about to leave, the sellers said they needed to package the appliances, and then they took them to the back to wrap them up. But, when the customers got home and opened the packaging, they found nothing but bricks and stones inside instead of appliances—only then did they realize that the merchants had carried out a swap, and that they had been scammed. The journey to go back to find them would be too long, and it would also cost them a lot in travel expenses, so they could only swallow the loss and learn a lesson from the experience—when you buy something, you must hand over the payment with one hand and take the goods with the other, and everything must be inspected in person to be certain that you’re getting what you paid for. This kind of thing often happens to people who frequently go on business trips. Now, such incidents are no longer just occasional occurrences in a single city but have become common. Incidents of fraud and deception in all forms are increasing, and more and more people who do business are engaging in scamming. Why wasn’t there so much of this before? It was simply because, back then, some people had not yet discovered these scamming tactics. Once these scamming tactics caught on in society, the merchants began imitating and following suit one after another, and they all started doing it. They all started doing it—could that mean their conscience was corrupted later on? No, these people inherently don’t have much conscience. It’s just that previously, due to their level of experience or knowledge, they still hadn’t figured out how to scam and cheat others like this. Later, with the corruption of the social climate, they have become increasingly ruthless and merciless in doing such things, and the nature of their actions has become increasingly vile.

People like this use cheating and scamming means while doing business, so will they also cheat and scam people while they’re doing other things? (Yes.) Their means and methods of doing business and their attitude toward things like cheating and scamming represent their humanity. They have this kind of humanity, so no matter what they do—even if it is not cheating and scamming others—it won’t be any better than that. Because this kind of humanity is the basis upon which they do these things, no matter what they do, the nature of it is basically the same—they are simply devoid of the awareness of conscience. When these people become officials, their means of speaking and acting are the same as when they’re doing business—they don’t have the function of conscience, they cheat and scam, harm and kill people, and break the law; they are capable of doing anything that goes against humanity, morality, and moral justice. They behave this way in business as well as in politics. If they engage in scientific research, can their humanity change because the field they’re involved in is different? No. Tell Me, do such people have an advantage when it comes to performing general affairs work in the church? Some people say, “So-and-so was once a big-league boss or a CEO in the secular world. Their means of doing business are particularly clever, but just a bit indecent—sometimes they cheat and scam people. I don’t know whether promoting this kind of person to do general affairs work in the church is appropriate or not.” Tell Me, is this kind of person a good person? Are they a truly talented individual? (No.) Some people always regard these individuals as talented people, and recommend all these people who have a bit of prestige in society, saying that so-and-so was a CEO or a senior executive, that another individual was one of the top ten outstanding youths in society or an exemplary worker, and that others hold master’s or doctoral degrees, or have worked as lawyers or journalists, or as civil servants or officials. The people who recommend these individuals actually lack spiritual understanding and do not understand the truth. They just feel that the various items of work in God’s house need to be taken on by these talented people and elites from all walks of life in society, so they recommend these people to take on the role of supervisors for these items of work. After these people became supervisors, not only did they fail to handle the work well, but they also made a complete mess of it, resulting in chaos breaking out everywhere in the church’s work—it was downright nonsense! All that these people could do was dare to act with unreasonable rashness, run amok committing misdeeds, be reckless and audacious, and brazenly carry out certain work—aside from that, there wasn’t a single item of work that they could truly do according to the truth principles. The biggest characteristic of these people is that they never seek the truth in anything they do and lack God-fearing hearts. Why are they able to become supervisors? One reason is that they believe they are elites, talented individuals, and pillars from all walks of life in society, so they think that they must assume key positions, take on major responsibilities, and play important roles after they come to God’s house, that they must have prestige and be given respect, and that God’s house cannot do without them. So, they push themselves into the spotlight, trying to become supervisors and take on work. Another reason is that God’s house also gives them opportunities. Since they are willing to do the work, they are allowed to give it a try—regardless of whether they’re competent or not, they have to be put through their paces. But these people do not have any genuine talent or real knowledge. Never mind whether they understand the truth and whether they can act according to the truth principles—just in terms of their own caliber, talents, insight, their ability to comprehend various matters, their ability to view things, and their ability to handle affairs, most of them do not have genuine talent or real knowledge. They do not have genuine talent or real knowledge, so why are they still so eager and proactive to take on major responsibilities and shoulder work? It is because their ambition and vanity are at work, and on top of that, they are brazen—they do not know their own true measure but always want to show off. As a result, they fail to do the work well and only make fools of themselves. Why do I say this? Because after these people took on these roles, every bit of work they did was all over the place and a complete mess. To describe it in one word, it was “chaos.” They had no principles in using people, no principles in handling matters, they spent offerings unreasonably, and did not follow up on or handle various items of work promptly. Even the most basic general affairs work was beyond what most of them could take on; they left everything in complete disarray. Farming, raising chickens, raising sheep—none of them were competent for such tasks. They were not clear about what to plant in which season, when to plow, fertilize, and weed the land, or when to harvest. They threw all of their work into chaos. If, at the beginning, God’s house had not used these people, they would have felt that God’s house wasn’t giving them opportunities and was looking down on them. So they were given opportunities—and what was the result of them being used? They left their work in complete disarray, and ultimately God’s house still had to clean up their mess. Every item of work they did required the Above to provide instruction and vetting—even for small matters like maintaining indoor and outdoor cleanliness, the Above had to provide instruction. Ultimately, the work can only be considered to have basically gotten on the right track now through the Above carrying out strict supervision, planning, and coordination, instructing and directing everything from scratch bit by bit. Without mentioning anything else—just talking about issues with the farms, there at least had to be suitable people to manage cleanliness. Most people were like wild animals, throwing garbage everywhere, speaking without considering the impact on the environment, shouting and yelling—they were simply identical to nonbelievers. Not a single one of these so-called talented people, when faced with these specific general affairs, could systematically manage things well. They could not even handle small matters well like managing cleanliness and the environment. These external matters do not involve the truth, and anyone with a little caliber and a little conscience should be able to handle them well—if someone cannot even handle these external matters well, then they are simply useless. Those people wanted to be officials and to call the shots despite the fact that they don’t have conscience and reason, or caliber and talent. When they were not allowed to be officials, they became defiant and argued, and yielded to no one. Are they not devils? After God’s house exposed and eliminated these devils, suitable people were chosen to manage the farm. Thanks to the guidance and planning of the Above, the farm is now built particularly well, and everyone likes it. The locals also really admire it and highly approve of it. Some of them said, “I have never seen a farm managed to be so clean and beautiful. We couldn’t transform it to this degree even in ten years. How could you manage it so well, so quickly? How many years did it take you to transform it into this?” In fact, such great change took only one year, turning a wasteland into what the brothers and sisters see as a park, a garden. Some even said this place looks like a fairyland, like a painting. Proper planning and construction truly make a difference. This place was originally covered in dirt and mud, and there was garbage and mess everywhere. Later, through clean-up and regulation, it gradually improved. Over time, everyone has gotten used to this kind of living environment, to the point that if it becomes a little dirty or messy, some people are not even used to it. You see, through this kind of management, most people benefit and develop good living habits. It is only under the personal instruction of the Above that this kind of construction could be achieved. By contrast, actually none of these so-called talented people can do anything real. They cannot even manage basic cleaning work well. They don’t know how to lay out a room in a way that looks appropriate, and they cannot see through to what kind of person is suited to do what duty. What kind of work can these people shoulder? They cannot do any work at all. They cannot even manage their own living environment—how could they be considered talented people? These people do not even have that bit of intelligence, they cannot speak clearly, they view things inaccurately, and they have no independent judgment. This shows that they are “talented people” in quotation marks, not people with genuine talent and real knowledge. Talented people must first possess certain qualities in their humanity, such as the ability to appreciate things, the ability to evaluate and appreciate things, and insight. If they do not possess these qualities, they only embarrass themselves when handling specific matters, and they cannot even manage and plan a single garden or one or two acres of land—nor make effective use of it—then there’s nothing talented about such people. You are not required to manage the entire earth, you are just being given one or two acres of land to manage well, that is, to tidy up so that they become beautiful and clean, and turn into an elegant environment—how wonderful it’d be for people to live there, even birds would not be willing to leave once they arrived. These so-called talented people are nothing at all. They cannot do any concrete work. There’s nothing talented about them at all—they are lacking things in their humanity. They cannot do anything well, yet they still want to show themselves off and be leaders and workers, and still want to assume key positions and be supervisors. What kind of disposition is this? This is an arrogant disposition.

Let’s return to the topic of loving to cheat and scam people in doing business. What kind of issue is cheating and scamming people? One aspect of the issue is that such people’s humanity is bad; they do not have conscience or reason. Judging from their behavior, then, what corrupt dispositions do they reveal? First of all, the disposition of such people is deceitful and wicked; secondly, they are averse to the truth and intransigent. When they cheat others, the ruthlessness they display is viciousness—regardless of whether their target is rich or poor, whether the target has money or not, they scam them all the same, showing no mercy. Such people’s corrupt dispositions are quite severe in every aspect. Tell Me, is it easy for such people to attain salvation? (No.) Judging by their corrupt dispositions, it is not easy for them to attain salvation. Then, in terms of their humanity, what aspect makes it difficult for them to attain salvation? Is there a root cause? (They have no conscience.) That’s right, it is not easy for people who have no conscience to attain salvation. The faculty of conscience is already gone in them, it no longer exists. Without the function of conscience, one does not possess the fundamental condition to accept the truth and practice the truth. Thus, it is very difficult for them to attain salvation; it can also be said that they cannot attain salvation. It is also possible that this type of person is willing to labor and can do so to some extent, and ultimately, because their labor is up to standard and meets God’s requirements, they will become loyal laborers and survive. This is also God’s grace. Though loyal laborers can survive, that does not mean they have attained salvation. To survive and to attain salvation are two different concepts. There is a gap and a distinction between them. The principles, boundaries, direction, and goals of a person’s actions are, to a large extent, related to whether their humanity is good or bad. If a person loves positive things or has some sense of justice, then this shows that their conscience has awareness—it shows that this person has a bit of conscience. In their self-conduct, some people have no sense of justice, nor do they make any positive choices. They just love doing wicked things and are very repulsed by positive things. Especially when someone talks a bit about positive ways of acting, about how one must, in their self-conduct, have humanity, conscience, and moral boundaries and abide by rules, they see this as being preachy. Calling it “being preachy” is putting it nicely; in actuality, they disdain and mock you. They believe that conducting yourself in this way is a failure: “Look at how pathetic your life is. You don’t know how to engage in fraud and deception in all forms, nor do you know how to gain advantages through cunning. In your conduct, you are always so rule-abiding, so timid. In this day and age, the bold gorge themselves while the timid starve. If you’re timid, you won’t make it!” They believe that by conducting yourself with conscience and principles you are just being timid, and that by daring to engage in fraud and deception in all forms they are being bold. But is it really because they are bold? Some people who believe in God in the country of the great red dragon are not afraid of suffering persecution and being arrested and still persist in believing in God. Does this have anything to do with being bold or timid? (No.) This is related to their pursuit—in their humanity, they have the need and yearning for belief in God. This is not a matter of being bold or timid. Some people engage in fraud and deception in all forms when doing business. Many times, they face being hunted down and arrested, having their property confiscated, or the risk of bankruptcy and closure, but they continue to scam people all the same. Even if their scamming leads to loss of life, they do not care. Some people, when doing business, scam others by setting up a bogus company—in actuality, this company does not exist at all and it has no real business, nor does it produce any products. They rely solely on their silver tongues to scam people into making orders everywhere. Once other people pay them a deposit, they immediately make their getaway, without leaving a trace. They scam people like this, one transaction after another, and after they swindle the money, their whole family lives in luxury, feasting on the best food and drink. To what extent do some people engage in scamming? They even scam high-level institutions and agencies. Sometimes, they’re hanging on by just a thread, and it’s possible that someone might see through their tricks and expose them. They actually know in their hearts that their actions will put them at risk, but they do not care. If by some fluke they get away with it, they will continue to scam people at the next opportunity. As long as they make money through their scams, they think they have won, that they have “achieved fame and success.” But if you ask them to believe in God, they do not dare to. They say, “Believing in God will get me convicted and arrested by the government. I do not dare to believe!” Yet when it comes to engaging in fraud and deception in all forms, they have no fear of getting arrested. If you go to gatherings, they even say, “You are really bold. The state is rabidly arresting and persecuting believers right now; how can you still dare to go to gatherings?” You say, “We who believe in God and walk the right path are not afraid of being arrested. It’s extremely dangerous for you to run shell companies and carry out scams—why aren’t you afraid?” They say, “We businesspeople aren’t afraid of taking risks. But you’re very bold to still dare to attend gatherings when the government is trying so hard to arrest believers!” When they see that believers in God are being arrested, they do not dare to believe, but they are not afraid of being arrested for carrying out scams while doing business. What kind of wretch are they? Does this not show the difference in people’s humanity? There is precisely this difference between people. People’s corrupt dispositions are the same—they all have those same corrupt dispositions—but judging by differences in their humanity, some people will never be able to believe in God; they can never be members of God’s house. Even if such people do believe in God, they can never attain salvation. From what aspect can this be seen? It can be seen from their humanity. Some people support their wives believing in God, but when their wives urge them to believe, they say that it’s too dangerous and they do not dare to. Yet, in doing business, they engage in fraud and deception in all forms, and they do not care no matter how much danger they face. They are capable of breaking any law and dare to use any tactics. No matter how closely the government conducts monitoring or what convictions and sentences are handed out under the law, they do not care. They have no boundaries in how they conduct themselves, they do not care about consequences when they act, and they think that everything is fine as long as there is profit to be made. If such a person believes in God, they cannot gain the truth, and they cannot attain salvation—this is because they do not love the truth, only money. As long as they are doing business, they will cheat and scam others, and they will rig things—their black heart manifests itself. Someone with this kind of character is completely done for; God does not save this sort of person. Some people say, “What if a person like this earns a lot of money and offers it to God’s house?” God’s house does not accept such money; God’s house does not accept money that is not earned through legitimate means. That kind of person will engage in fraud and deception in all forms as soon as they conduct business—they have very poor humanity. How poor is it? If you ask them to search their conscience, they say, “I feel nothing. I don’t know where my conscience is. I don’t know what conscience is either, or how much it costs per pound.” At that moment, you understand: “No wonder they make money faster than other people in the same business. No wonder customers all go to buy from them. This person uses devious tactics—they engage in shady practices when they do business, and their fraudulent behavior is really serious!” But not only do they not see this as shameful, they even boast and brag, saying, “Look at you, doing business all serious and proper. You scam someone once and you get so scared that your heart pounds. Look at me—I’m not afraid! As long as the Bureau of Industry and Commerce and the police don’t get any evidence, it’s all fine. Want to sue me? You have no evidence! Look at how cleverly I scam people! Can you do it? You can’t! The moment you scam someone, you give yourself away. You don’t have the tactics that I do. Your caliber is poor!” What kind of person is this? They are an evil person. Is there any hope of redeeming them? They are beyond redemption. It is not because such people have corrupt dispositions that they can’t be saved, but because their humanity is too poor. Poor in what way? Poor in that they have no humanity and no conscience; they have lost their conscience. What does it mean to have lost one’s conscience? It means doing things without the boundaries of conscience. These boundaries are built upon conscience—conscience constitutes the boundaries. No matter who you cheat by engaging in fraud and deception in all forms while doing business, whether it is a bad person or a good person, at any rate, the act itself goes against morality, conscience, and humanity. Once such a thing is done, you will feel self-accusation in your conscience forever. It will become a lifelong stain. If you are truly human, you should never do such a thing. No matter who the target of your scams is, and no matter the amount of money you scam—even if you scam evil people and bad people—it is still scamming. That is why, regardless of the circumstances or who you are dealing with, you should never scam people. This is having the boundaries of conscience in your self-conduct, and it is the restraining force that comes from the function of conscience. If you have the function of conscience, then you will have boundaries in what you do. If you do not have the function of conscience, you will cross those boundaries and be capable of anything. It can be said that individuals like this do not have the slightest bit of conscience and reason and that they are worse than beasts. If some people think this statement is too extreme, let’s put it another way: A person without the slightest bit of reason is like a beast. Are people without humanity not beasts? If someone is human yet has no humanity, then what is their essence? Is it not that of a beast? The difference between them and a beast is that they can walk upright, and they have language, whereas beasts do not possess human language ability. In order to profit, you are able to use all kinds of means and methods to engage in fraud and deception in all forms, whereas beasts have no such means. So, saying that people of this sort are equivalent to beasts is actually going easy on them—in fact, such people are truly worse than beasts. Can those who are worse than beasts attain salvation? They do not accept the truth in the slightest—they only love money. This is a problem with their nature, and no one can change it. Expecting such people to accept the truth is like expecting a rooster to lay eggs—it will never happen. Therefore, among corrupt humankind, excluding those who commit murder for profit or engage in criminal acts and violate the law, these people who engage in fraud and deception in all forms can be considered as having the worst humanity—they are the dregs of humankind, the degenerates of humankind. In this current era of great economic prosperity, there’s an exceptionally large number of people like this who engage in fraud and deception in all forms while doing business. But no matter how many of these people there are, at any rate, such manifestations are enough to illustrate a problem of humanity. How a person’s conscience is, as well as whether they have the boundaries of conscience—this is an indicator for measuring their humanity. How can someone who doesn’t even have humanity possibly be saved? At the very least, one’s humanity must contain the conditions to accept the truth. Those who engage in fraud and deception in all forms fundamentally do not possess the conditions to accept the truth within their humanity. So, if you ask them to accept the truth in order to cast off their corrupt dispositions, this will be impossible for them to achieve. Only those with conscience and reason can accept the truth and cast off their corrupt dispositions and thereby attain salvation, because their conscience has a certain level of awareness, and when they conduct themselves and act, their conscience can perform a certain function. When you fellowship on the truth with such people, and talk about how to enter into the truth, how to cast off corrupt dispositions, which things are in line with God’s intentions and which are not, and how people should act, they can accept and submit. It is appropriate to fellowship on the truth with such people—they are the right recipients. If you fellowship about the truth with those whose primary means of doing business is cheating and scamming others, you might as well be talking to a brick wall. So when it comes to such people who are doing business, just observe whether they use legitimate means in doing business and in their transactions and dealings with people, whether they have the restraints and boundaries of conscience, and whether their conscience can function in their transactions and dealings with people. If a person’s conscience can function and exert a restraining force on them, then they are acceptable and are worth associating with. The gospel may be preached and the truth fellowshipped on to such people. If they are able to accept the truth, then there is hope for them to attain salvation. That’s all for our discussion on loving to do business.