Some people feel constrained by the prospect of marriage. By the time they reach 40 years old, they’ve yet to find a suitable partner. “If I don’t find one now, it’ll be too late.
At 50 years old there’s no use having children because they won’t be able to take care of you in old age. Don’t I need to find a partner?” This person is stuck. After being stuck like this for 10 years, one day he’ll finally get it, and the truth will become clear. “Isn’t what happens to me when I get old all in God’s hands anyway? What’s the point of living in the flesh? What’s the point of worrying about those things? We’ve dedicated our whole selves to God. We believe in God, and we rely on God, and that’s all there is to it.” This person is no longer ruled by his problems, he sees right through them, and he can walk free. Some people are ruled by matters of life and existence, by marital affairs, by children, and they can’t escape these constraints. Some people are ruled by something in doing their duty and serving God, and can’t walk away from this. In fact, aren’t there just a few things that can constrain people and trap them in darkness? There are many things that people must bear, but not all of them can trap them in darkness. If you seek the truth amongst these constraints, you will be able to walk free. Some people say, “After many years, I still haven’t been able to walk free.” You’ve yet to free yourself and you know others who’ve yet to walk free. But do you deny that there are some people, a minority of people, who are able to free themselves from these constraints? Is this not true? Why don’t you seek the truth from these people, the people who have freed themselves? “How did you free yourself? Will you bear witness for us and tell us about your experience of the truth? We’re trapped here!” If this is how you seek the truth, will you be able to arrive at a solution to this kind of question? If you sincerely seek and practice the truth and genuinely have faith in God, you will be able to free yourself. Am I wrong? Other people can free themselves. They are human, and you are human too, so doesn’t that mean you are also capable of freeing yourself? That is, unless you don’t believe in God. It all boils down to a question of belief, doesn’t it? Some people become leaders and don’t think about themselves at all. They believe in God’s word, and they live their lives in order to bear witness for God. They do not think of themselves and they do not strive for fame or status. Is this not a true testimony? If this person can practice the truth like this, then why can’t you? If you really can’t practice the truth, if you are instead ruled by status and fame, then you must seek the truth from people who do not seek fame and status, and you must listen to their testimonies. If this person is able to free himself by walking the path, doesn’t it make sense that you will be able to free yourself by walking the same path? That being said, will pursuing the truth be easy regardless of what hardships a person may encounter? Are there many paths that lead to the truth? Surely there are many paths; there is not merely a single path to the truth. Within God’s word, you can also find a path. Through God’s word, you can come to understand the truth, attain the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and find your own path to practice the truth. You can also seek the truth from the experiences of your fellow brothers and sisters and find your own path to practice the truth. If you listen diligently to the sermons and fellowships of God’s family, you will be able to learn about ways of practice that suit you. There are three ways to the truth, at the very least. In addition to these, you can also find your own path. When you encounter hardships, pray to God and seek the truth, contemplate God’s word, and you will slowly be enlightened by the Holy Spirit, feel His light inside you, and you will be able to see your own path of practice. It simply takes a little bit longer to do it this way. Many people get confused and annoyed during this process. We all have our own, individual difficulties and hardships. The difficulties we face are not the same. But if you really are a person who genuinely pursues the truth, you will be able to walk free from those confusions. Do I not speak the truth? What I say is absolutely true, it’s not false in the least bit. Those who walked free from those confusions can all testify to how they triumphed over their adversities. I am not speaking blindly; I am speaking with their testimonies as my foundation.
Now are you willing to practice the truth? If you practice the truth and worry about troubles that may arise, or not getting anything good in return, what’s wrong with this? Because you lack the faith and the courage needed to practice the truth, you will not be able to suffer hardships you will encounter while doing so. I’ll give you an example. If you are persecuted by the powers at be, they’ll ask you, “Why do you believe in Almighty God?” Some people won’t dare to tell them why. This kind of person will deny that he believes in God and seek a way to evade the question. Satan knows how you think, and it will ask you directly, “Why do you believe in God? Will you deny Him? Answer me!” Some people don’t fear Satan at all, and they will tell it exactly why they believe in Almighty God. When they finish doing so, they will restate their position once more, “Not only do I believe in God right now at this moment, I will believe in God for eternity. I will believe in God even in death!” Satan will look at this person, knowing that it can’t trick him, and it will hate him. It’ll beat him up and say, “There’s nothing to be done about this one, there’s no use trying him.” Look, this person has already surpassed this obstacle. If you don’t fear suffering, you won’t suffer any additional hardships after making such a statement. But if you wish to evade suffering, if you wish to act like humans act, you’ll encounter even more trouble. On the other hand, if you do not fear death, these obstacles will be nothing to you, and you will walk free. Is this not the case? It’s that simple. People who serve God should not walk the path of the Pharisees or the path of the antichrists. Rather, we should walk the path of honest people, and do practical things in order to carry out God’s will. How can this be so difficult? If you just act without seeking fame and profit for yourself, won’t this suffice? Will you be able to attain it? Some people never do, and say, “This doesn’t work. I can’t act without seeking fame and status for myself, it’s not possible at all! If I serve as a leader, I have no choice but to do so.” Do these kinds of people really exist? Yes, and there are far too many of them. We imagine that these people only make up 10% or 1% of the leaders, but in reality, they make up 10% to 20% of the leaders at the very least. They are not few in number! This person acts for the sake of his own fame and status. If you ask him to act not on behalf of his own fame and status but to instead do some practical things to carry out God’s will, he won’t be able to do it. He won’t be able to let go of his fame and status. Is this not evil? Yes, this is what we call evil. If you ask certain people to walk the path of an honest person, they’ll feel like it’s harder than climbing straight up to heaven. It’ll feel as if you’re asking them to go to their deaths! Some people say, “Well, this doesn’t make sense at all, who wouldn’t want to become an honest person?” I’ll give you an example here. When something happens, you’ll say to him, “Tell me the truth about this matter, don’t lie. How do you really see it?” He won’t be able to say anything. Here, you designate a matter specifically to get him to clarify his perspective and speak honestly. It is like asking him to die. He won’t say anything by any means, will he? Aren’t there people like this? When you ask him about a crucial matter, “You tell me, that person is an antichrist, why did you take his side and cover up for him? Why did you defend him? Tell me! What did he say to you in private?” This is not a private matter and he still says nothing, won’t this kind of person find it difficult to practice the truth? It’s very difficult for him to speak the truth. Will this kind of person still be able to obtain God’s salvation? No, he’s totally finished. He does not uphold the work of God’s family, nor does he speak the truth. What people ask about is not his private affair, and he doesn’t dare to speak the truth or clarify his perspective. This kind of person lacks courage. Even worse, he is faithless, he is like worthless mud that can’t support a foundation, a completely useless piece of rubbish! You might meet people who appear to be extraordinary on the outside, they dress classy, their eyes twinkle, and are extremely spirited. But as soon as you try to make a person like this do his duty or do some form of concrete work, he can’t do it. If you try to get him to write an article, he’ll say, “I don’t know how to write a testimony.” What kind of person is he? Does he possess the truth? He doesn’t understand anything or see anything clearly. What kind of duty is this person able to perform? When all aspects of the principles have already been clearly communicated, how can he still not understand? How has he not found the path yet? What’s his problem? Lacking the truth is worse than being blind, and those without truth are unable to take a single step forward. This person has no way to do his duty effectively even if he wants to. It doesn’t matter what he does, because without the truth, he won’t be able to do it well. He won’t be able to do anything!
Now, some people are sincerely convinced. I said to someone once before that without truth, one is unable to take a single step forward. But he responded, “You say that without truth one is unable to take a single step forward, but I’ve been to many countries.” This person has no way to do his duties according to principle. “Oh, so the truth is like this. Since every duty is related to the truth, how am I not carrying out the truth by doing my duty?” Some people say, “I’m an old peasant, I can do all the work that old peasants do. I can even do the works of laborers. How could I not be able to do my duty well once I enter God’s family? How strange. It seems to me that the duties of God’s family are indeed connected to the truth. Writing an article is connected to the truth, attending a gathering and speaking during fellowship is connected to the truth, every work is connected to the truth. Now I feel that those without the truth are truly in a bad predicament, whatever they do they can’t do it well.” Many people say, “Before I was very smart, a very skilled person. How could I be a useless waste in God’s family? I won’t accept this.” But you must accept this. On the outside you might be very skilled, but when it comes to the spiritual matters in life, you have no experience, so you can’t do the work. Most people have experienced these things. Are you aware of how valuable the truth is? Having the truth as your life is an extraordinary and wonderful thing! If a person has the truth as his life, he will be a useful person, and a person with true humanity. Only a person who has the truth as his life can bear witness for God, fulfill his duty, be in accord with God’s heart, and carry out God’s will. But a person without the truth as his life can’t accomplish anything. He’s useless. Do you understand this by now? How is it that the antichrists will fall from power, suffer failure, be exposed and eliminated? It is because the antichrists do not have the truth as their life. They merely exploit their petty tricks and rely on their gifts. In the end they will fail absolutely and will suffer a crushing defeat. They will be exposed and eliminated. Why will false leaders be exposed and eliminated? They do not possess the reality of the truth, and speak letters and doctrines. They cheat and deceive God’s chosen people, and they will eventually be exposed. We are able to see them clearly for who they really are. So, if you lack the truth, you won’t be able to accomplish anything, even if you are elected as a leader you will be useless. Sooner or later you will be exposed and eliminated, unless you pursue the truth properly.
The most important aspect to attaining the truth is practicing the truth. How many truths are you able to practice right now? This is of crucial importance. Please speak about your experience. God’s family has a 20 Question Assessment About the Truth, and everyone has to answer those questions with their real experiences and testimony. When this test was first issued, many people were shocked. When they first looked at it, they said, “Good enough, I can answer some of the questions,” but once they put pen to paper and started to really answer the questions, no words came. They didn’t know how to write about it at all. In the end, they wrote for several days without success. These people are far too naive. This exam reveals whether or not a person has the reality of the truth. Now, are these 20 questions hard to answer? Is it complex? It’s hard to say. You may say it’s complicated, but in actuality, it isn’t that complicated at all. You say it’s superficial, but how come you can’t come up with all the answers? In actuality, those who have experience all say that this test is the bare minimum of the reality we need to have and what we need to practice in our daily life. If you genuinely practice the truth, if you really have experiences of the truth, then these questions will be very easy to answer. But if you don’t practice the truth from start to finish, and only occasionally follow the rules, then you’ll have no way to answer these questions, and this test will become an obstacle for you, an obstacle you will never be able to overcome. When you walk free from this obstacle you will be liberated and attain freedom, the reality of the truth. Can you walk free from this obstacle? Do you have faith or not? Most of you believe you can do so, this is excellent! If you are faithful, then you will be able to walk free from this obstacle, and you will surely be able to continue forward in your experience of the truth, and able to attain the truth and enter into the reality. A person who can do this will attain the life by undergoing God’s work in the last days. God will live in his heart and be with him! This person believes in God and places God in his heart, he has God inside of him, God dwells within him. This is a person who has perfect faith in God, a person who has attained God, and a person who has been attained by God. Some people feel constrained by the prospect of marriage. By the time they reach 40 years old, they’ve yet to find a suitable partner. “If I don’t find one now, it’ll be too late. At 50 years old there’s no use having children because they won’t be able to take care of you in old age. Don’t I need to find a partner?” This person is stuck. After being stuck like this for 10 years, one day he’ll finally get it, and the truth will become clear. “Isn’t what happens to me when I get old all in God’s hands anyway? What’s the point of living in the flesh? What’s the point of worrying about those things? We’ve dedicated our whole selves to God. We believe in God, and we rely on God, and that’s all there is to it.” This person is no longer ruled by his problems, he sees right through them, and he can walk free. Some people are ruled by matters of life and existence, by marital affairs, by children, and they can’t escape these constraints. Some people are ruled by something in doing their duty and serving God, and can’t walk away from this. In fact, aren’t there just a few things that can constrain people and trap them in darkness? There are many things that people must bear, but not all of them can trap them in darkness. If you seek the truth amongst these constraints, you will be able to walk free. Some people say, “After many years, I still haven’t been able to walk free.” You’ve yet to free yourself and you know others who’ve yet to walk free. But do you deny that there are some people, a minority of people, who are able to free themselves from these constraints? Is this not true? Why don’t you seek the truth from these people, the people who have freed themselves? “How did you free yourself? Will you bear witness for us and tell us about your experience of the truth? We’re trapped here!” If this is how you seek the truth, will you be able to arrive at a solution to this kind of question? If you sincerely seek and practice the truth and genuinely have faith in God, you will be able to free yourself. Am I wrong? Other people can free themselves. They are human, and you are human too, so doesn’t that mean you are also capable of freeing yourself? That is, unless you don’t believe in God. It all boils down to a question of belief, doesn’t it? Some people become leaders and don’t think about themselves at all. They believe in God’s word, and they live their lives in order to bear witness for God. They do not think of themselves and they do not strive for fame or status. Is this not a true testimony? If this person can practice the truth like this, then why can’t you? If you really can’t practice the truth, if you are instead ruled by status and fame, then you must seek the truth from people who do not seek fame and status, and you must listen to their testimonies. If this person is able to free himself by walking the path, doesn’t it make sense that you will be able to free yourself by walking the same path? That being said, will pursuing the truth be easy regardless of what hardships a person may encounter? Are there many paths that lead to the truth? Surely there are many paths; there is not merely a single path to the truth. Within God’s word, you can also find a path. Through God’s word, you can come to understand the truth, attain the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, and find your own path to practice the truth. You can also seek the truth from the experiences of your fellow brothers and sisters and find your own path to practice the truth. If you listen diligently to the sermons and fellowships of God’s family, you will be able to learn about ways of practice that suit you. There are three ways to the truth, at the very least. In addition to these, you can also find your own path. When you encounter hardships, pray to God and seek the truth, contemplate God’s word, and you will slowly be enlightened by the Holy Spirit, feel His light inside you, and you will be able to see your own path of practice. It simply takes a little bit longer to do it this way. Many people get confused and annoyed during this process. We all have our own, individual difficulties and hardships. The difficulties we face are not the same. But if you really are a person who genuinely pursues the truth, you will be able to walk free from those confusions. Do I not speak the truth? What I say is absolutely true, it’s not false in the least bit. Those who walked free from those confusions can all testify to how they triumphed over their adversities. I am not speaking blindly; I am speaking with their testimonies as my foundation.
Now are you willing to practice the truth? If you practice the truth and worry about troubles that may arise, or not getting anything good in return, what’s wrong with this? Because you lack the faith and the courage needed to practice the truth, you will not be able to suffer hardships you will encounter while doing so. I’ll give you an example. If you are persecuted by the powers at be, they’ll ask you, “Why do you believe in Almighty God?” Some people won’t dare to tell them why. This kind of person will deny that he believes in God and seek a way to evade the question. Satan knows how you think, and it will ask you directly, “Why do you believe in God? Will you deny Him? Answer me!” Some people don’t fear Satan at all, and they will tell it exactly why they believe in Almighty God. When they finish doing so, they will restate their position once more, “Not only do I believe in God right now at this moment, I will believe in God for eternity. I will believe in God even in death!” Satan will look at this person, knowing that it can’t trick him, and it will hate him. It’ll beat him up and say, “There’s nothing to be done about this one, there’s no use trying him.” Look, this person has already surpassed this obstacle. If you don’t fear suffering, you won’t suffer any additional hardships after making such a statement. But if you wish to evade suffering, if you wish to act like humans act, you’ll encounter even more trouble. On the other hand, if you do not fear death, these obstacles will be nothing to you, and you will walk free. Is this not the case? It’s that simple. People who serve God should not walk the path of the Pharisees or the path of the antichrists. Rather, we should walk the path of honest people, and do practical things in order to carry out God’s will. How can this be so difficult? If you just act without seeking fame and profit for yourself, won’t this suffice? Will you be able to attain it? Some people never do, and say, “This doesn’t work. I can’t act without seeking fame and status for myself, it’s not possible at all! If I serve as a leader, I have no choice but to do so.” Do these kinds of people really exist? Yes, and there are far too many of them. We imagine that these people only make up 10% or 1% of the leaders, but in reality, they make up 10% to 20% of the leaders at the very least. They are not few in number! This person acts for the sake of his own fame and status. If you ask him to act not on behalf of his own fame and status but to instead do some practical things to carry out God’s will, he won’t be able to do it. He won’t be able to let go of his fame and status. Is this not evil? Yes, this is what we call evil. If you ask certain people to walk the path of an honest person, they’ll feel like it’s harder than climbing straight up to heaven. It’ll feel as if you’re asking them to go to their deaths! Some people say, “Well, this doesn’t make sense at all, who wouldn’t want to become an honest person?” I’ll give you an example here. When something happens, you’ll say to him, “Tell me the truth about this matter, don’t lie. How do you really see it?” He won’t be able to say anything. Here, you designate a matter specifically to get him to clarify his perspective and speak honestly. It is like asking him to die. He won’t say anything by any means, will he? Aren’t there people like this? When you ask him about a crucial matter, “You tell me, that person is an antichrist, why did you take his side and cover up for him? Why did you defend him? Tell me! What did he say to you in private?” This is not a private matter and he still says nothing, won’t this kind of person find it difficult to practice the truth? It’s very difficult for him to speak the truth. Will this kind of person still be able to obtain God’s salvation? No, he’s totally finished. He does not uphold the work of God’s family, nor does he speak the truth. What people ask about is not his private affair, and he doesn’t dare to speak the truth or clarify his perspective. This kind of person lacks courage. Even worse, he is faithless, he is like worthless mud that can’t support a foundation, a completely useless piece of rubbish! You might meet people who appear to be extraordinary on the outside, they dress classy, their eyes twinkle, and are extremely spirited. But as soon as you try to make a person like this do his duty or do some form of concrete work, he can’t do it. If you try to get him to write an article, he’ll say, “I don’t know how to write a testimony.” What kind of person is he? Does he possess the truth? He doesn’t understand anything or see anything clearly. What kind of duty is this person able to perform? When all aspects of the principles have already been clearly communicated, how can he still not understand? How has he not found the path yet? What’s his problem? Lacking the truth is worse than being blind, and those without truth are unable to take a single step forward. This person has no way to do his duty effectively even if he wants to. It doesn’t matter what he does, because without the truth, he won’t be able to do it well. He won’t be able to do anything!
Now, some people are sincerely convinced. I said to someone once before that without truth, one is unable to take a single step forward. But he responded, “You say that without truth one is unable to take a single step forward, but I’ve been to many countries.” This person has no way to do his duties according to principle. “Oh, so the truth is like this. Since every duty is related to the truth, how am I not carrying out the truth by doing my duty?” Some people say, “I’m an old peasant, I can do all the work that old peasants do. I can even do the works of laborers. How could I not be able to do my duty well once I enter God’s family? How strange. It seems to me that the duties of God’s family are indeed connected to the truth. Writing an article is connected to the truth, attending a gathering and speaking during fellowship is connected to the truth, every work is connected to the truth. Now I feel that those without the truth are truly in a bad predicament, whatever they do they can’t do it well.” Many people say, “Before I was very smart, a very skilled person. How could I be a useless waste in God’s family? I won’t accept this.” But you must accept this. On the outside you might be very skilled, but when it comes to the spiritual matters in life, you have no experience, so you can’t do the work. Most people have experienced these things. Are you aware of how valuable the truth is? Having the truth as your life is an extraordinary and wonderful thing! If a person has the truth as his life, he will be a useful person, and a person with true humanity. Only a person who has the truth as his life can bear witness for God, fulfill his duty, be in accord with God’s heart, and carry out God’s will. But a person without the truth as his life can’t accomplish anything. He’s useless. Do you understand this by now? How is it that the antichrists will fall from power, suffer failure, be exposed and eliminated? It is because the antichrists do not have the truth as their life. They merely exploit their petty tricks and rely on their gifts. In the end they will fail absolutely and will suffer a crushing defeat. They will be exposed and eliminated. Why will false leaders be exposed and eliminated? They do not possess the reality of the truth, and speak letters and doctrines. They cheat and deceive God’s chosen people, and they will eventually be exposed. We are able to see them clearly for who they really are. So, if you lack the truth, you won’t be able to accomplish anything, even if you are elected as a leader you will be useless. Sooner or later you will be exposed and eliminated, unless you pursue the truth properly.
The most important aspect to attaining the truth is practicing the truth. How many truths are you able to practice right now? This is of crucial importance. Please speak about your experience. God’s family has a 20 Question Assessment About the Truth, and everyone has to answer those questions with their real experiences and testimony. When this test was first issued, many people were shocked. When they first looked at it, they said, “Good enough, I can answer some of the questions,” but once they put pen to paper and started to really answer the questions, no words came. They didn’t know how to write about it at all. In the end, they wrote for several days without success. These people are far too naive. This exam reveals whether or not a person has the reality of the truth. Now, are these 20 questions hard to answer? Is it complex? It’s hard to say. You may say it’s complicated, but in actuality, it isn’t that complicated at all. You say it’s superficial, but how come you can’t come up with all the answers? In actuality, those who have experience all say that this test is the bare minimum of the reality we need to have and what we need to practice in our daily life. If you genuinely practice the truth, if you really have experiences of the truth, then these questions will be very easy to answer. But if you don’t practice the truth from start to finish, and only occasionally follow the rules, then you’ll have no way to answer these questions, and this test will become an obstacle for you, an obstacle you will never be able to overcome. When you walk free from this obstacle you will be liberated and attain freedom, the reality of the truth. Can you walk free from this obstacle? Do you have faith or not? Most of you believe you can do so, this is excellent! If you are faithful, then you will be able to walk free from this obstacle, and you will surely be able to continue forward in your experience of the truth, and able to attain the truth and enter into the reality. A person who can do this will attain the life by undergoing God’s work in the last days. God will live in his heart and be with him! This person believes in God and places God in his heart, he has God inside of him, God dwells within him. This is a person who has perfect faith in God, a person who has attained God, and a person who has been attained by God.
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