In believing in God, one should understand what exactly God’s work is intended to change about people, how God resolves the problem of people’s corruption, and what He intends to accomplish in people—these are issues that should be fellowshipped on clearly, are they not? In sum, one should understand exactly what effects God intends to achieve in people with His work. Firstly, in this stage of God’s work, He is expressing the truth and supplying life. The work of providing people with the truth is clearly fellowshipping the truth principles that people must abide by when they encounter all kinds of people, events, and things in real life, so that after they have understood them, they can view people and things, and conduct themselves and act based on these truth principles, and on this basis their corrupt dispositions are resolved, and they are enabled to cast off these corrupt dispositions and to truly and absolutely submit to God. Of course, this is also a sign of being saved, and it is a true manifestation of being saved that can ultimately be seen in people. In the whole process of God providing people with the truth, what are the main issues that need to be resolved? There are mainly two kinds of issues to resolve. The first kind of issue to resolve is people’s notions. People’s various kinds of fallacious, distorted and tightly-held thoughts and views that come from Satan are collectively referred to as people’s notions. These erroneous thoughts and views control people’s thoughts and behaviors, and have already become a basic theory of thought by which they view people and things, and conduct themselves and act, and so they must be thoroughly resolved. This is an issue related to people’s thoughts that needs to be resolved. The other kind of issue to resolve is people’s corrupt dispositions. Corrupt dispositions are a topic that is often fellowshipped on, discussed, and dissected in church life. Some corrupt dispositions are caused by people’s fallacious thoughts and views, while other corrupt dispositions are purely satanic dispositions. The two things that God intends to resolve in people through His work and words are their notions and their corrupt dispositions. The former relates to how one views people and things, whereas the latter relates to how one conducts oneself and acts. When these two things are resolved and people have gained the truth and are able to submit to God and become compatible with Him, then God’s work will have achieved its effect, and God’s work will have come to an end. However, throughout the whole process of God’s work—whether it be the way God works, the specific steps of His work, or each of the truths expressed by Him—none of this is targeted at aspects such as people’s personalities, calibers, abilities, instincts, life habits and living patterns, or their interests and hobbies. In other words, the objective, purpose, and significance of God’s work is not to change people’s inherent calibers and abilities, instincts, personalities, and so on. No matter what caliber and work capability you possess, or what your innate personality, life habits, instincts, and various other aspects are like, God does not look at any of these things. He only looks at whether you are a person with normal humanity, and then on this basis He provides you with the truth and works on you. No matter what aspects of the truth God provides you with, or what kind of work He does on you, ultimately it is not in order to change your inherent caliber and instincts, it is not to raise your caliber or instincts and make them better, or to make them particularly supernatural—none of these aspects are the targets that God wants to change with His work. Therefore, no matter how many years you have believed in God, or however many sermons you have listened to, or however much effort you have put into God’s words, your inherent caliber will remain the same and will not change. It will not change because you have believed in God for many years, listened to sermons for many years, and run around and expended yourself for many years. Of course, the same goes for your personality, instincts, life habits, interests, hobbies, and so on; they will not change because you have believed in God for many years and have done your duty for many years. In people’s notions, this change certainly does not mean lowering, but rather elevating—making these things higher and better than before. That is, regardless of which stage God’s work is at, or whichever method He uses to do it, what His work changes is not people’s inherent calibers, work capabilities, instincts, personalities, and so on. So, if your caliber is poor and you do not currently possess the caliber to be a leader or worker, or to be a supervisor for a certain item of work, then you will not possess it 20 or 30 years from now either; and even if you are eventually saved because of your pursuit of the truth, you will still not possess it. Your caliber won’t change. Will your instincts change then? Everyone experiences birth, aging, illness, and death, and when faced with major events, they will become nervous, afraid, terrified, and so on—these instincts will not change either. For example, when people hear a particularly loud noise, they will all cover their heads and hide in a safe place—this is instinct. When your hand touches a flame or something else that is hot, you will instinctively withdraw it, or when you hear some unfortunate news, you will instinctively shudder inside and feel terrified. When you face danger, instinctively your first thought will be, “Am I safe? Is this danger coming my way?” This is instinct. Also, when someone reaches out to hit you, you will instinctively dodge to protect yourself; when dust or water gets into your eyes, you will instinctively close them; and when you have a toothache, you will touch your tooth with your hand frequently. You will instinctively have a natural reflex, have a certain manifestation, or perform an instinctive action. People were born with these instinctive reactions. No one can take them away, and God will not change them either. These instinctive reactions were set up for people by God when He created them, and they are meant to protect people. They are something that a created human must possess. God will not take these instincts away, and you will not lose them because of your pursuit of the truth either. What do I mean by this? I mean that it’s not the case that you won’t be afraid when there’s a fire or that you won’t feel your hand being scalded when you place it in a pan of hot oil because you pursue the truth, have understood many truths, and have true submission to God—this is an impossibility. What would you think if someone gave such a testimony? Would you envy and admire them? What kind of assessment and characterization would you make of it? At the very least, this is a supernatural phenomenon, and God would not perform it. As for the instincts that God has created for humankind, God will not take away these instincts of yours because you pursue the truth, nor will He transform these instincts into supernatural powers. For instance, say you are in a dark space and you can’t see a thing; you will instinctively reach out to feel around you, and listen carefully with your ears to distinguish the sounds around you, instinctively feeling your way forward. You will not transcend the flesh because you pursue the truth—it will not be the case that the darker it gets, the brighter your eyes feel, and the clearer you are able to see things and the easier it is to find your bearings—this is supernatural, and it is something that God does not do. Even if you have understood many truths, and are able to submit to the truth and put the truth into practice, if your instincts in this regard can stay the same and do not regress, then that is already great, and yet you want them to become supernatural—that is an impossibility! In addition, a person’s ability to view things and handle things and their ability to resolve problems aren’t what God intends to change with His work either. A person’s ability to handle things depends in one respect on their caliber, and in another respect on their innate IQ, and their IQ includes their gifts. Some people are born particularly possessed of certain abilities and gifts for handling external matters, that is, they are good at thinking and socializing, they are born with a special social ability, and they know how to interact with people, view things, and handle certain matters. In their minds, they have particularly clear threads of thought when it comes to all kinds of things, which are also very logical. When they view something, they can grasp the crux of the matter, without any deviation or absurdity, and handle problems in a relatively accurate manner. This type of person possesses the ability to handle matters. Some people are not born with this ability, and they just like to read books, grow flowers, plant grass, raise birds, and things like that. What is this called? It’s called having a refined and leisurely way of life. These are people who pursue elegance and refinement. They are not good at socializing or handling external matters, they don’t have this capability. When they need to go out and handle affairs, to consult a lawyer or interact with some personage, they get all timid and afraid and dare not look that person in the eye, and when they are asked questions, they hem and haw and don’t know what to say. They are useless, are they not? When this kind of person is not faced with some issue, they are really good at bragging, saying, “I did such and such things, I had such and such illustrious past, I once interacted with such and such people, and I’ve known such and such celebrities….” However, when they are actually sent to handle something, they disappear without a trace. It turns out that the only thing they are capable of is bragging, and they have no real talent or knowledge, and no ability to handle affairs. Can the fact that someone is bad at handling matters be changed by them pursuing the truth? Unfortunately, no, it cannot. Look at those individuals who have introverted personalities and have been afraid to face other people since childhood. When they are in their twenties or thirties, they are still very nervous when talking to people or handling matters that involve interacting with people. By the time they are middle-aged, they still feel shy and blush when speaking in front of a crowd. Such people will never be able to face the wider world as long as they live. Other people are different, in that they have liked chatting and interacting with people ever since they were teenagers. No matter what personage they interact with, they won’t feel afraid, and no matter what they are doing, they don’t get anxious or panicky. They have wits, and so they don’t suffer from stage fright. The more people there are, the happier and more energized they get, and the more they want to perform. Can someone’s personality and ability to handle matters be changed through them experiencing God’s work? (No.) God does not change these things about people. Some people know that their poor ability to handle matters is a defect in their humanity, so they work hard to overcome it. It may be that, when they reach middle or old age, after experiencing decades of tempering and having accumulated extensive experience, they barely manage to cope with some immediate matters; but they still won’t have the ability to handle critical, life-and-death matters. In particular there are some people who can’t handle anything themselves when they reach old age; whatever they try to handle, they make a complete mess of it—they simply cannot shoulder it—and they can’t even take on the burden of attending to their own family affairs. And what do they do? In some cases, their children have the ability to handle matters, so these people let their children help them, while they enjoy things that have already been done for them. They think, “I have made a contribution, I have the ability to handle affairs,” but actually, they don’t have this capability. It was their children, now grown up and capable of taking charge, who took on these affairs. These people may not be as nervous and fearful about tackling things now as they were when they were young, but that does not mean their ability to handle matters has changed or improved. What does it mean? It means that they are older, have gained experience, and are no longer afraid of things. What does “no longer afraid of things” refer to? It is that they are able to look at matters in a more open-minded way because they have experienced a lot of things and figured out the patterns of things, and so if they really do run into a bit of danger, they won’t be afraid, and they will think: “Well, here I am. If you want money, I haven’t got any; if you want my life, then here’s one—do whatever you like!” Have such people made any progress? They haven’t made any progress at all—they are still quite careless and muddleheaded when it comes to handling things. They are just as rash and impatient as they were before. They failed to carry things through before, and they haven’t changed one bit even now. It’s just the way they are. Tell Me, isn’t this how things really are? (Yes.)

There are people of all ages among you. Up to now, have you ever experienced something special—in the process of pursuing the truth, has your caliber completely changed and become much better than before, or have your instincts changed? Have you ever had such an experience? (No.) Well then, has anyone ever said, “I used to be quite useless. I wasn’t eloquent, I didn’t have any abilities or skills, and I didn’t have any social abilities. Now that I have accepted God’s work, I am able to speak eloquently, I have social abilities, and when it comes to handling things, I’m intelligent and have the knack, and I know how to deal with things”? Has anyone had this kind of experience? (No.) Some say, “Although those things haven’t happened to me, in the process of experiencing God’s work after coming to believe in God, I feel that my personality has changed. I used to speak slowly, and everyone called me ‘Slowcoach.’ I also had another nickname, which was ‘Slowpoke.’ Since I started believing in God, my reactions have become faster than before, and I speak and act faster. I also handle things more quickly and efficiently.” Do such things happen? (No.) There is one case where it might be possible. For example, when some people learn a foreign language and first practice speaking it, they speak very slowly, one word at a time. Others think that these people might speak so slowly because they were born with a slow temperament. After three or five years, because these people have been in frequent contact with speakers of that foreign language, they end up speaking it very fluently, just as quickly as they speak their native language, and others who are none the wiser think, “That person’s personality has changed. They used to speak slowly and people felt impatient while listening to them, but now they speak very fluently—they’ve become a brisk person. From the straightforward and clear way they speak, you can tell they handle matters with alacrity and have a good personality.” In this case, has there been a change in their personality? (No.) In fact, this is a normal pattern. It is the process of normal progress in learning a kind of profession—it is not a process of changing personality. Whether it be caliber, ability and instincts, or personality, habits, interests, and hobbies, none of these aspects are things that God wants to change through His work. If you always believe that the purpose of God working and speaking to supply people with the truth is to change all these innate qualities of humans, and think that only then can one be considered a completely reborn, truly new person as spoken of by God, then you are gravely mistaken. This is a human notion and imagining. After understanding this, you should let go of such notions, imaginings, conjectures, or feelings. That is, in the process of pursuing the truth, you should not always rely on feelings or guesses to sum up these things: “Has my caliber improved? Have my instincts changed? Is my personality still as bad as before? Have my living patterns changed?” Do not ponder over these; such pondering is futile, because these are not the aspects God intends to change, and God’s words and work have never targeted these things. God’s work has never aimed to change people’s caliber, instincts, personality, and so on, nor has God ever spoken for the purpose of changing these aspects of people. The implication is that God’s work supplies people with the truth on the basis of their inherent conditions, aiming to make people understand the truth and then accept and submit to the truth. In other words, regardless of what kind of caliber you have, and regardless of what your personality and instincts are like, what God wants to do is to work the truth into you, to change your old notions and corrupt dispositions, rather than changing your inherent caliber, instincts, and personality. You understand now, right? What is it that God’s work aims to change? (God’s work aims to change the old notions and corrupt dispositions within people.) Now that you understand this truth, you should let go of those imaginings and notions that are unrealistic and concerned with supernatural things, and should not use these notions and imaginings to measure yourself or make demands of yourself. Instead, you should seek and accept the truth based on the various inherent conditions given to you by God. What is the ultimate goal in this? It is that on the basis of your inherent conditions, you understand the truth principles, understand each and every truth principle that should be practiced in the face of various situations you encounter, and you can view people and things, and conduct yourself and act according to these truth principles. Doing this meets God’s requirements. This is because the purpose of God’s words and work is to work truths into people so that they become their principles and criteria of practice, and so that they become the bases by which they view people and things, and conduct themselves and act, and so that they become their life, rather than it being to turn people into superhumans or people with supernatural powers. What do I mean by “superhumans” and “people with supernatural powers”? Being able to transcend one’s instincts, transcend the scope of one’s ability, transcend one’s caliber, and even transcend one’s gender, and being able to live beyond one’s gender—aren’t these supernatural powers? (Yes.) For instance, some people can speak several or even more than ten languages without engaging in specialized language studies. Is this supernatural? (Yes.) This supernaturalness goes beyond human caliber, ability and instinct, does it not? (Yes.) What’s more, when speaking the various languages, they can even flexibly put on different male and female voices. Isn’t this even more supernatural? (Yes.) No matter how many languages they speak, they don’t get them mixed up, and they don’t feel tired no matter how long they speak for, and even if they don’t drink some water, they don’t feel thirsty. Moreover, the more they speak, the brighter their eyes get, the more their face glows, and they shine all over. Isn’t this supernatural? (Yes.) Even if they get shot while talking, they are fine and just carry on talking. That is even more supernatural, is it not? (Yes.) When they see the bullet, they don’t even try to dodge it, instead they face it directly. The bullet passes through their chest, but they stand firm and don’t falter. They aren’t affected in any way, and not even a hair on their head is hurt. This is transcending instinct, is it not? (Yes.) All these phenomena transcend human instinct. The most serious thing of all is that they have become an unusual person, that is to say, someone who is different from ordinary people, who transcends the caliber and abilities of normal people, and who also transcends the instincts of normal people. Their manifestations in all aspects are different from those of ordinary people and are particularly supernatural. This means trouble. Are they still a normal person? (No.) Then what are they? (An evil spirit.) They are an evil spirit. Do you want to pursue this? (No.) None of you want to, so do you think God’s work would change people to that extent? Is the purpose of God’s work to transform individuals into unusual people? (No.) It is for you to accept the truth and to experience the environments He has set up for you within the scope of normal humanity, so that from this you can understand the painstaking intentions with which God does His work, or your own inadequacies and deficiencies, or your own corrupt dispositions, and then, on the basis of this understanding, seek the truth and put it into practice, and come to progressively enter into the truth—this process is slow and not at all supernatural. When some people are being negative, they like to say this: “What have I gained from believing in God for so many years?” You say that you haven’t gained anything, but you should think carefully about the following. Having believed in God for so many years, do you now have a clear view of many things? Is it the case that the longer you believe, the more peaceful and grounded you feel, and the more you feel that this is the right path in life? If you do feel this way, it means that you have indeed gained something. Though you have not gained any material things, though you have not gained money, status, fame, gain—things that you can grasp in your hand or see with your eyes—you have nevertheless understood some truths in your heart. You have gained some understanding of God’s actual existence and His sovereignty over everything. In addition, you have also understood God’s intentions and His requirements for people, and you know what a created being is and what duty you should do. And if, right now, you were not allowed to do a duty, you would feel anguished and feel that your life was empty. Doesn’t all this show that you have already made gains from believing in God? What you have gained is worth more than any material thing. These are the effects that God’s work achieves in people. He does not intend to enable people to undergo some supernatural, unrealistic changes that transcend humanity, human instincts, or the normal needs and normal manifestations of the flesh. Instead, He intends to enable people to experience all sorts of environments within the scope of normal humanity, and in this process, to progressively and slowly gain all sorts of understandings and experiences. In short, throughout this progressive and slow process, people’s thoughts and notions are changed little by little, the perspectives from which they view people and things are changed, their views on and ways of dealing with all kinds of people, events, and things are changed, some of their corrupt dispositions are no longer as obvious as before, and their conscience and reason are restored to some extent. They obtain these real gains, instead of those unrealistic, illusory, void, hollow, or even supernatural things.

God performs the work of saving mankind in a gradual manner, and of course there is another more primary principle, which is that in doing His work, God lets things take their own course. This principle of “letting things take their own course” may be somewhat difficult for people to understand. What does it mean to let things take their own course? It means that, whether God is working on people or speaking to people, He never forces anyone to do things. God sets up environments for you, and provides you with the truth just as He does for other people. Regarding how you should view and understand the environments that He sets up, and what viewpoint and attitude you should approach them with, God has explicit words and has told you clear truth principles. As for how you approach them, that is your own free choice. You can choose to accept the truth and know yourself, or you can choose to reject the truth; you can choose to accept the revelation of you by the environments that God orchestrates, or you can choose to ignore God’s work—you have the freedom of choice, you are free to choose. For instance, when it comes to the duty you ought to do, you can choose to do it with all your heart and all your strength, or you can choose to do it with a perfunctory attitude. This is entirely based on your personal choice, and of course, it is also based on your own caliber, abilities, instincts, and so on. God does not do extra work—that is to say, under normal circumstances, God does not do any extra work of urging, or compelling. What does this mean? It means that God sets up environments for you—it’s just as if He has laid out a banquet for you, with hot and cold dishes, rice and soup, fruits, drinks, and so on and so forth, and when it comes to what you choose, God gives you freedom—no matter what choice you make, you have the freedom to do so, and God does not interfere, He just focuses on expressing the truth to supply people. Some people just take a cursory look at the banquet, without tasting for themselves what its delicious dishes are actually like. They just comment on the banquet, speak some doctrines, and then leave. Others just choose to look at the banquet, ignore its delicious foods, and leave without having any attitude or any opinion. There are others who have personally tasted and who have experienced its delicious dishes, and who have also learned how to make one of the tasty foods. In the environment set up by God, no matter what your attitude is—whether it be to welcome it, or to reject it and deny it, or to despise it and be hostile to it, and so on, these are all attitudes as far as God is concerned. How does God approach and deal with people’s various attitudes? Having provided people with a great number of truths, God’s attitude toward them is merely to watch and keep a record. As for what people choose or what their attitude is, God does not intervene—this matter has nothing to do with God. What, then, does this matter have to do with? It has to do with what path you choose, what you ultimately gain, and your own final outcome. On this matter, God does not do any extra, facilitative work, He only fulfills the responsibilities and obligations that He should fulfill. After He has provided you with the truth and told you the principles for dealing with all kinds of people, events, and things, He may also set up environments for you. However, God does not intervene with exactly what final choices you make or what kind of path you take—He lets you choose for yourself. If you are elected to be a leader or worker, for example, you can choose to act according to the truth principles and the work arrangements of God’s house, or to act arbitrarily and recklessly according to your own preferences. If you choose to handle everything according to the truth principles and do your duty according to the work arrangements, God will observe and keep a record of this, and eventually you will have gained the truth and submitted to God—this is one outcome. If you do things according to your own will, and act arbitrarily and recklessly, violating the work arrangements of God’s house and the truth principles, this is also a choice and it represents the path that you are taking, and God will likewise observe and keep a record of it, and of course it goes without saying what your outcome will be. If you have gained the truth and life, this will also enable you to gain God’s approval and secure you a good destination.