Man’s entire life is lived under the domain of Satan, and there is not a single person who can free themselves from the influence of Satan on their own. All live in a filthy world, in corruption and emptiness, without the slightest meaning or value; they live such carefree lives for the flesh, for lust, and for Satan. There is not the slightest value to their existence. Man is incapable of finding the truth that will free him from the influence of Satan. Even though man believes in God and reads the Bible, he does not understand how to free himself of the control of Satan’s influence. Throughout the ages, very few people have discovered this secret, very few have touched upon it. As such, even though man detests Satan, and detests the flesh, he does not know how to rid himself of the ensnaring influence of Satan. Today, are you not still under the domain of Satan? You do not regret your disobedient acts, much less do you feel that you are filthy and disobedient. After opposing God, you even have peace of mind and feel great tranquility. Is your tranquility not because you are corrupt? Does this peace of mind not come from your disobedience? Man lives in a human hell, he lives under the dark influence of Satan; across the land, ghosts live together with man, encroaching upon the flesh of man. On earth, you do not live in a beautiful paradise. The place where you are is the realm of the devil, a human hell, a netherworld. If man is not cleansed, then he is of the filth; if he is not protected and cared for by God, then he is still a captive of Satan; if he is not judged and chastised, then he will have no means of escaping the oppression of the dark influence of Satan. The corrupt disposition that you show forth and the disobedient behavior that you live out are sufficient to prove that you are still living under the domain of Satan. If your mind and thoughts have not been cleansed, and your disposition has not been judged and chastised, then your entire being is still controlled by the domain of Satan, your mind is controlled by Satan, your thoughts are manipulated by Satan, and your entire being is controlled by the hands of Satan. Do you know just how far you are, now, from the standards of Peter? Are you of caliber? How much do you know of the chastisement and judgment of today? How much do you possess of that which Peter came to know? If, today, you are unable to know, will you be able to achieve this knowledge in the future? Someone as lazy and cowardly as you is simply incapable of knowing the chastisement and judgment of God. If you pursue the peace of the flesh, and the pleasures of the flesh, then you will have no means of being cleansed, and in the end you will return to Satan, for what you live out is Satan, and the flesh. As things stand today, many people do not pursue life, which means that they do not care about being cleansed, or entering into a deeper life experience. And so how can they be made perfect? Those who do not pursue life have no opportunity to be made perfect, and those who do not pursue a knowledge of God, and do not pursue changes in their disposition, are incapable of escaping Satan’s dark influence. With regard to their knowledge of God and their entry upon changes in their disposition, they are not serious about them, like those who only believe in religion, and who merely follow ceremony in their worship. Is that not a waste of time? If, in his belief in God, man is not serious about matters of life, does not pursue entry into the truth, does not pursue changes in his disposition, much less pursue a knowledge of the work of God, then he cannot be made perfect. If you wish to be made perfect, you must understand the significance of God’s work. In particular, you must understand the significance of His chastisement and judgment, and why they are carried out upon man. Are you able to accept? During chastisement of this kind, are you able to achieve the same experiences and knowledge as Peter? If you pursue a knowledge of God and of the work of the Holy Spirit, and pursue changes in your disposition, then you have the opportunity to be made perfect.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Experiences of Peter: His Knowledge of Chastisement and Judgment