6:31 PM Young People Should See Through the Evil Trends of the World |
Apart from when they are in school, what do young people, in particular those children who are around 16 or 17 years old, do with the rest of their time? (They go to Internet cafes.) The life of modern man: Going to Internet cafes and playing games on computers. Most people are like this. What kinds of things do computer games mostly have in them? There are many violent things and these games are the world of devils. For most, when they play these games for a long time, they can’t do any real work anymore—they no longer want to go to school, or keep learning, or think of their futures, much less do they think of their life. What things now constitute the majority of young people’s thoughts and souls? Eating, drinking, and playing games. Everything they say, the things they talk about, and the things they think of in their hearts are all inhuman. One cannot use the words “dirty” or “evil” to describe the things they think about; so many of them are inhuman. If you talk to them about a matter of normal humanity or talk about a topic concerning normal humanity with them, they can’t bear to hear about it, they’re not interested, they’re not willing to hear it, and as soon as they hear it they roll their eyes and take unkindly to it. They don’t share a common language or share common topics with normal mankind, but on the contrary they can talk with other people like themselves. What are the topics they discuss? (The topics they discuss are games, eating, drinking and enjoying themselves. Nothing else.) This describes most of their topics. Tell Me, those who always discuss these topics, those whose hearts are filled with these things, what future prospects do they have? Do they have any future prospects? What will their futures be like? (These people will go to waste!) “Go to waste” is a very appropriate phrase. Speaking specifically, what does this actually mean? Can they engage in the activities that normal humanity should engage in? If these people cannot do well with their studies and are made to exert themselves doing manual work, are they then willing to do this? When you make them do manual work, what then do they think? They ponder: “This work is so tiring. I’m so happy when I’m playing games, shooting one thing after another. How long do I have to do this work for? Playing games is so much more fun and relaxed. What’s the point in working hard? What will I get from it? I can’t get anything from it. Even though you work hard, you still get to eat three meals a day. I haven’t seen you get anywhere good by working. It’s great playing games. As soon as I sit down in front of a computer, I have everything I need. Living in that virtual world is enough for me.” And if you make them get a job, working 9 till 5, getting to work on time and working fixed hours—how do they feel about that? Are they willing to stick to those times? Let Me tell you, when people play games for a long time, their willpower would evaporate. The unbelievers have a word to describe this. What is it? It is “decadence.” Always playing games, always playing on the computer—this kind of person is decadent. “Decadence” is a word of the unbelievers. We say that these people have no normal humanity. They have been filled with the violence and killing of these games and with the things of virtual worlds. These games have stripped away the things of normal humanity, filled and forcibly occupied these people, and forcibly occupied any room they have for thought; they are then decadent. The unbelievers don’t like these people either. But in this world of the unbelievers now, these young people have no way to turn, their parents are unable to control them and their teachers can do nothing with them; there is nothing any country’s education system can do about this trend except comply.
 The devil Satan does these things in order to lure people, to cause them to degenerate. For those who live in virtual worlds, they have no interest whatsoever in anything to do with the life of normal humanity; they are not in the mood to work or study. They are only concerned about going to virtual worlds, as though they are being enticed by something. Scientists have conducted some research and found that, as soon as someone plays a game and when they enter into a game, their brains start to secrete something that makes them somewhat delusional. After this thing has been secreted, they then become addicted to playing games and are always thinking about playing them. The second they get bored or are sitting idle, or when they are doing some real work, at their job or study, they want to play games instead, and playing games gradually becomes their whole life. Playing games is like taking a kind of drug. Once someone starts to be addicted to playing games, once they are lost in it, then it becomes hard to get back out and hard to quit. Regardless of whether it is young people or older people, once they catch this bad habit, it becomes difficult to give it up. Some parents try to keep a close eye on their children playing games but they can’t always be watching them. They may not play games during the day, but when their parents go to bed at night, they furtively turn the computer on, and play games all night long. A few years ago, there was a news report about a child who played computer games for more than 10 hours straight, who, it is certain, got no sleep during that time, who just played constantly, to what extent? When his parents found him, he was dead in front of the computer with his entire body positioned as though he was still playing the game. So how did he die? It was verified scientifically that he had died of cerebral necrosis—he played himself to death! Is playing games something that normal humanity should do? If games were needed for normal humanity, if it were the right path, then how come people cannot quit them? How come people can be captivated by them to such a degree? This proves one thing: That is not a good path. Surfing online for this or for that and playing games is not a good path. It is not the right path.
How do those games come about? Do they not come from Satan? What will some absurd people say? “Games are a symbol of the development of modern science. They are a scientific achievement.” What do you think of this explanation? This explanation sounds disgusting. When you feel bored, do you want to play games to while away your time? (Yes.) So what should you do in this situation? Can you solve this problem? Playing games is not something that just follows social trends. If you cannot even quit such a small matter, or control yourself, then you are in danger. Among the unbelievers, it’s a common occurrence that both young people and older people play games and do drugs. No matter how many years you have believed in God, if you can’t even restrain yourself in the matter of playing games or control yourself, if a day comes when you think that believing in God is meaningless, that it is boring, that it is very uninteresting, would you then do drugs like those people? Would you try all kinds of methods that excite you and that can make you feel leisurely and carefree? Is this kind of person capable of embarking down the wrong path? This is a signal for danger! Though you may believe in God and say: “I follow God, I don’t follow the unbelievers or the things of the world. I’m not the same as the unbelievers,” this is easier said than done; you will not easily achieve this. This evil world uses all manner of ways to attract those who have not seen through the world, who have not seen through the evil trends of mankind. It specially lures these people. If you cannot often come before God, if your heart and your brain are often blank, then you will be in danger. Do you spend much of your time in a blank state? Young people have a blank mind much of the time!
Young people around 16 or 17, and those who are in their twenties, are at what kind of age exactly? Are they in the prime of youth? Some of you are shaking your heads. What age are they at, if not the prime of youth? I have eight words to give to you. Listen to them and see whether what I say is accurate. I often say these words. For those people in the twenty-something age group, who don’t yet know about real work, who don’t know to set their life goals, who don’t have any ambition, who don’t understand what life is—what are they like? They are young, brash and arrogant, and they can’t tell a four from a six. Why do I say this? First let’s discuss “The young are brash and arrogant.” Explain it to Me. What is meant by “The young are brash and arrogant”? Talk about how they express this. What kind of condition is this brashness and arrogance of young people? What kind of disposition is it? (They don’t listen to what other people say. They always think that they are the best.) (They don’t want to listen to others.) They don’t want to listen to others—this is one aspect of their behavior. Say it in a more detailed way and relate it with actual people, with yourself or with the people you see. What word can we use to describe the disposition this kind of person has? Arrogant. This is a kind of disposition and expression that all young people in this age group have. They are all the same. No matter what their living environment or background is like and no matter to what generation they belong, this is a representative disposition of the people in that age group. As soon as one knows your age, it is pretty much known you have this kind of disposition, and when others see this kind of disposition in you, they will know pretty much what age group you are in. What aspect of disposition does the manifestation of “the brashness and arrogance of youth” refer to? Why do I say those of about 16 or 17 and those in their twenties are young, brash and arrogant? Why do I use these words to describe the young people in this age group? It’s not because I am prejudiced toward those in this age group, or that I look down upon them. It’s because the people in this age group have a certain kind of disposition. Because the people in this age group are inexperienced in the matters of the world and have little understanding of the affairs of human life, when they just begin to come into contact with the affairs of the world and of human life, they think, “I understand. I understand thoroughly. I know it all! I can understand what adults talk about and I can keep up with all the fashionable things in society. Now mobile phones are developing quickly, with functions that are so complicated—I know how to use it all! You bunch of old women don’t understand anything. You even can’t turn on the TV, and if you do manage to turn it on, you can’t switch it off again.” There are some young people, when their grandmothers speak to them and say: “Do this for granny,” who reply: “Humph, you can’t even do this. Old people really are useless!” What kind of way is that to talk? Don’t forget, you will also grow old one day. Can being able to do some things like this be considered a skill? Can it be considered an ability? You may say no, but when you encounter some issue, you will express this kind of disposition. What is this? This is what is meant by “The young are brash and arrogant.” This is what people express. So when they express this, is it something that they have mulled over and decided that they must express this kind of thing? Or is it done involuntarily? (Involuntarily.) Involuntarily; this is what is meant by “disposition.” Can this kind of disposition be considered a good disposition of normal humanity? Is it a disposition of someone with humanity? Can it be considered an expression of normal humanity? No, it can’t. So this is why I say “The young are brash and arrogant.” That is to say, they are at a young age, but they seem as though they know everything and understand everything. “I know how many times spacecraft have been into space. Do you? I know whereabouts and how many times UFOs have appeared. Although I haven’t seen them with my own eyes, I know how many seconds they stopped for and how many aliens came down. Do you know this? You don’t, do you? You’re too old and can’t keep up with things. You’re just no good!” What is this called? This is called “brashness and arrogance.” Why do I call it brashness and arrogance but not haughtiness? This is a type of disposition especially found in young people; they understand a small matter and then they puff themselves up and have no idea of heaven’s height and earth’s depth, capitalizing on their small amount of understanding. The elderly who have lived into their 60s or 70s will think: “Kids all behave like this, it’s normal. I was just the same when I was young. Now I understand many things and have been through too much in life. I can’t be like them anymore as people would just laugh at me.” People of that age cannot possibly have that kind of disposition. They are much more composed. They don’t make it known to everyone if they can do something, and if they can’t do something they don’t get upset about it. But young people make a fuss about anything they can do and they puff themselves up; it is as if the whole world is beneath them. Sometimes they get so excited that they can’t wait to fly off the earth and go and stay on the moon. This is what is meant by brashness and arrogance. Their main characteristics are that they have no idea of heaven’s height and earth’s depth, they don’t know what is dangerous, what things are real, and they don’t know or understand what people need or what they should do to live. This is like what people often say: “You don’t yet understand the matters of human life.” In this age group, since people have this kind of disposition, they will easily express these things. When some young people are talking, they don’t look straight at the person they are talking to, they have no respect for anyone, and everything they say is filled with a note of disdain. If you have a word with them but it’s not to their liking, they will just ignore you. It is rather hard to be a parent nowadays and very hard to get to know the mentality of young people. If they say one wrong word, their child will throw a tantrum and storm off, and it is very difficult for them to communicate with adults. This is to say that there are problems with the thinking of many young people today, and that the things of normal humanity are becoming fewer and fewer. Is this situation not created by evil trends and this evil society? So, you young people can now be safe and secure here, can believe in God and do your duties in God’s family. It’s not because you are good people or desire to choose this path, but rather it’s because of the kindness of God. God has not handed you over to the world, nor handed you over to Satan. Even Me speaking to the young people in the world today is of no use, to say nothing of you advising them to believe in God. Is it just that they are young, brash and arrogant? What are they? People without conscience and reason are devils and animals! Can they understand you when you speak words of normal humanity to them? They just don’t listen; this is not a problem of difficult communication. Why is it now so hard for parents to manage and educate their children? Is it because the parents today have a low level of knowledge and education? That they haven’t studied psychology, that they don’t understand the mentality of young people? What problem is this? The thinking of young people today is strange, so it is rather difficult to be a parent; it isn’t easy. And some parents especially study the psychology of adolescents. Nowadays there are many cases of strange illnesses in children, such as autism or depression, and terms such as “rebel mentality,” “adolescent phase” and “rebellious phase” have been created. Why didn’t generations in the past have these kinds of terms? Is it that science is now more developed? How have these strange terms been created? It is because mankind becomes more and more degenerate. So you must cherish your time spent performing your duties, and strive during this time to firmly lay a foundation. In this way, you will be safe, and will not easily be carried away by these evil trends. Once someone has become fixed by the gaze of an evil trend, then they will easily be carried away. Once you have been carried away by an evil trend for a second time, will God still want you? He won’t! He has given you a chance and now He won’t want you again. If God doesn’t want you, you will then be in danger, and will be capable of anything.
Then there is “they can’t tell a four from a six.” This is a dialect expression. The literal meaning is not being able to know what is good for them, not knowing what is positive or what is negative and not being able to tell good from bad. Because they are young, brash and arrogant, they don’t listen to anything anyone says. “Anything anyone else says is wrong, what I say is right. Don’t anyone try to say anything to me, I won’t take anything in. I know I’m right. Even if I am wrong, I’ll still stick to my guns. Though I know perfectly well that I’m wrong, I’ll still persist with my opinions.” They have this kind of disposition, of not being able to tell a four from a six. From the outside it is hard to tell whether the child is being clever or stupid; they can put forward ordered arguments. When arguing something, they know better than anyone and they understand more than anyone else, so how come they always do things in such a befuddled way? Though they know perfectly well that a certain way of doing something is right, they don’t listen, they do as they wish and do things however they want—they are willful and muddled. Have you ever done things in such a befuddled way?Nowadays, many people practice parkour. Have you ever practiced parkour? Do you like it? (I really like that feeling.) How can you like that feeling? What is that feeling exactly? (It’s the feeling of leaping over roofs and up walls. It’s very exciting.) Is that normal? (No, it isn’t.) If it’s not normal, how can you still like it? (It’s just showing off.) That feeling gives people a kind of visual and emotional stimulation, so everyone yearns to do it. What governs this thinking? Why do people like this thing? Is there some feeling in people’s hearts that they want to save the world, to be supermen? There are many movies and TV shows which feature flying heroes that fly here, there and everywhere, leaping over roofs and up walls, and people really envy them. Thus, the brains of the current generation of young people are seeded with these things and are poisoned. How come they can be poisoned with these things? This has to do with a kind of need within people. Why do those people like parkour so much? Don’t they know that it’s dangerous? Don’t they know that they can be killed doing it? People are not spiders, nor are they geckos. They don’t have the same ability. If they cling to a wall, they will most certainly fall back down. Before you jump down off a roof you will think what part of your body you can land on so that you won’t get hurt or break something. When there is nothing on a wall for support, those people are still able to climb up and jump down, which is exciting for them, much to the admiration of the viewers. So what governs this thinking? (People live boring lives, so they go looking for excitement.) This is one type: Young people are wont to go looking for excitement. They are so empty and bored and they don’t know what to do for the best. There is another thinking governing them, which is that people have a desire in their hearts to be a certain type of person, and they long for a kind of power, and for a certain something. This something that people yearn for is to have supernatural powers and abilities, and not what normal humanity possesses. People want to be heroes, supermen, capable men, and people who have extraordinary abilities; in other words, they worship Satan in the unawareness of their hearts. What kind of person has that kind of physical ability and the guts to do it, who really can leap over roofs and up walls and fly here, there and everywhere like Spiderman or Batman? Without a doubt, it could only be someone who has been possessed by evil spirits who could have this kind of ability. Does mankind created by God have this kind of ability? Does God make people practice parkour when they have nothing else to do? Was parkour around at the time of Adam and Eve? Why didn’t they practice parkour? Is there anything about parkour in the Bible? Why did people in that age not practice parkour, but so many people do it nowadays? It is most certainly because people have been influenced by certain ideological trends and influenced by film and television. These things are not needed by their hearts but instead are things that lead them toward evil trends. People are simple-minded and have no discernment, and they happen to like these things, they like strange things, exciting things and the extraordinary abilities of Satan. People seek these things and they define it like this, “I like heroes. Aren’t Spider-Man and Batman heroes?” Do the actors have these abilities? No, they don’t. Satan uses this method to invent, fabricate and play out some stories, and then it deceives these simple-minded, brainless adolescents. Once you have been influenced, these things enter your thoughts and become a kind of poison. Is it then easy to remove and cleanse yourself of this poison? You only need to fail to see through this poison for one day and you will then be unable to give it up completely, and you will have been influenced, disturbed and controlled by it for that one day. Do you believe this? (Yes.) So how can this matter be resolved? Is it easy to resolve? Do you wish to relinquish these things? (Yes.) How much do you wish it? You sometimes think: “I feel a little unwilling to part with these things. Why do I have to relinquish them? It’s great to have these things and we had a hard time getting them instilled inside ourselves. They aren’t poison at all, are they?” With this thinking you won’t be able to relinquish them. In reality, it is that you want to hold onto them; it’s not that you cannot relinquish them or that you find it difficult. So while your stature is immature, you must do your utmost to give those things that can rot your heart and poison you a wide berth. Why is that? Because you currently have no discernment, are foolish and very brash and arrogant. The positive things equipped within your heart are so few, and you have no reality of the truth. In spiritual terminology, you don’t have life or stature. You just have this tiny good wish, saying: “I enjoy believing in God. It is good to believe. I can walk the right path and be a good person.” But you will also think: “I’m not a bad person amongst the unbelievers. My liking parkour is not a bad thing. I’m still a good child, still a good person.” That’s troublesome.
Can someone’s environment have a big influence on them? You are now performing your duties in God’s family and, in this environment, brothers and sisters are always together, those around you are all believers, and you can believe in God conscientiously here. If you alone were taken and placed in amongst the unbelievers and were made to be with them, would you still be able to have God in your heart? (No.) So what would be in your heart? If you were with them, wouldn’t you then very easily become exactly the same as them? You would then say: “Oh God, protect me!” And you would think: No problem, God protects me. “Oh God, look after me!” And again you would think: God will look after me. When you make a little mistake, you say: “Oh God, please forgive me, I did this wrong.” You may pray this way today, and pray that way tomorrow, and as time goes by, unknowingly you will feel no blame, feel nothing at all, and you will wonder: “God? What God? Why haven’t I seen God?” You will have changed, won’t you? You change little by little, and you will ponder: “Why was I so stupid back then? How could such a great man as I am be with those ignorant old codgers and old dears, together with some ignorant young women and some people who are unwanted by society? How could I be so ignorant?” Why do you change so easily? In actual fact, it’s not that you change only at that time, it’s that you have no reality of the truth right now, and you have not yet purged yourself of the thoughts, dispositions, understanding and viewpoints that pertain to the world and to Satan. These things are still within you and you still rely on them to live; it’s just that you are now in God’s family. From the outside, it looks as though you are believing in God and performing your duty, but actually the corrupt dispositions and the views and thoughts of Satan within you have not yet been purged. So your stature is very small, you are still in a dangerous phase, still uncertain and unsafe. You first need to recognize which things are evil, what their dangers are, why Satan does these things, what changes happen within people who accept these things, what poisons they are susceptible to, what they can turn into, what kind of person God requires man to be, which things are of normal humanity, which are positive and which are negative. On the negative side, you should recognize these things. On the positive side, you must actively and positively cooperate in the doing of your duty, offer up your sincerity, offer up your loyalty, do not be opportunistic or engage in trickery, do not use the ways of the unbelievers to do your duty, and do not use the ways or the philosophies of the unbelievers in your approach to your duty or to the tasks given to you. Then you must enter into all aspects of the truth and gradually achieve an understanding with respect to God and to His disposition. In this way you will unknowingly undergo a change inside: There will be more positive things within you, and fewer negative things; there will be more proactiveness and less passiveness within you. You will also become more discerning than before. When your stature has grown to this degree, your ability to discern the affairs in the outside world, the affairs of the world, will have grown. Suppose you watch a cartoon, you will be able to see what kind of poisons it will pass on to those who watch it, what things Satan wants to imbue people with and what of man it wants to erode by means of this method and this trend. You will gradually be able to thoroughly understand these things. You will then be able to watch such a cartoon without being poisoned, and your discernment will grow as a result. Only when that time comes will you genuinely have stature. Do you possess this stature now?
When your stature is immature and you have no discernment, these evil trends can come into your mind and can make you see them as positive, as things that are very normal. “Why can’t I imitate these things? Why can’t I desire them? They’re just normal.” You then see them as legitimate things. This is one way in which Satan poisons people so, tell Me, is Satan not evil? Once you realize how scary and sickening these evil trends are, do you then have any discernment toward what Satan does? What should your attitude be? Should it be to abandon these things? When you have free time, you should put your thoughts in order and see what kind of strange things are still in your mind. There are many strange things in your minds. Why is that? Because you people of this generation are too poisoned, and there are way too many of these things in you, such as leaping over roofs and up walls, being Spider-Man, and being Batman. All the things that normal humanity shouldn’t have, the things that normal humanity doesn’t normally need, the things that normal humanity doesn’t possess—if you are determined to pursue these things, and are set on sampling them and experiencing them, then you may possibly bring on the work of another kind of spirit. Once people have been taken captive by an evil spirit then this is a cause of great trouble: God will no longer want them. This is then no longer a matter of whether it is dangerous or not. If you are taken captive by Satan, can God still want you? God won’t want you. So how can this matter be resolved? You should implore God often, that you not fall into temptation, and that you not be deceived by Satan. In this evil age, in this age infested by unclean spirits and devils, you should pray that God’s kindness and protection will often be with you, that He looks after you and protects you, that your heart doesn’t leave God. You should strive to use your heart and your honesty to worship God. Is it right to practice this way? (Yes, it is right.) So do you wish to walk this path? Are you willing to live often under God’s care and protection, often to be disciplined by God, or do you wish to live in your own free world? If any among you are disobedient or too rebellious, then God will discipline you, will make you ill, and will sometimes cause your flesh to suffer pain. Are you willing to accept this? (Yes.) I will see how you behave when the time comes. Despite your saying “yes” now, “yes” is a word that is hard to live up to. It is feared that young people are unsettled, are derelict in their duties and never think of anything serious.
I often ask some young people: “Do you know what the greatest wisdom is?” And they say “No.” In your opinions, what is the greatest wisdom? With your current statures and with the time since you started believing in God, in what way should you practice that possesses the greatest wisdom? You’ve never thought of this, have you? Say there is a person who appears incapable, slow of speech, and taciturn. But in their heart they have the greatest wisdom that no one else has. Most people don’t do what this person does and when they see this person doing this they think them stupid, that what they do is superfluous, and they say: “Why are you always doing this? You follow the rules too much and you believe in God in such a stupid way. Is there any need to do that?” So tell Me, what exactly is the greatest wisdom? (Always quieting one’s heart before God, praying more to God, being close to God in all things.) You’ve touched a little upon it here. What are you aiming for in getting close to God? (To seek out God’s will.) And what are you aiming for by seeking out God’s will? (To find a path for practice.) You’ve understood the general meaning. Is your aim in seeking out God’s will to be reliant on God? (Yes.) By relying on God, are you making things easier for yourself? God does it all so you don’t have to, so you don’t have to go to any trouble. Is this wisdom? Let Me tell you: The greatest wisdom is to look to God and rely on God in all things. This is something that most people haven’t grasped. What do they believe instead? “I read a lot of God’s words, I listen to many sermons, and I attend many meetings, learn many skills and many songs. Then I pray even more, fellowship with brothers and sisters even more, do my duties more, suffer more, pay a greater price, abandon even more things, and this is perhaps the greatest wisdom.” But you have overlooked the final aim of doing all this.
Regardless of how many truths people understand, how many duties they do, how many things they experience while performing their duties, no matter how great or small their stature is or what their personal environment is like, something that they cannot be without is looking to God and relying on God in all things; this is the greatest wisdom. Why do I say this is the greatest wisdom? Is it okay for someone who understands many truths not to rely on God? Some people say: “I am old and have believed in God for a long time. I have understood many truths and can talk about them all. I also have a little practical experience and can help others.” But they don’t rely on God. Is this kind of person wise? (No, they aren’t.) What does it mean if they’re not wise? What is the antonym of wisdom? Foolishness. Suppose that you understand the truth, have believed in God for many years, have some loyalty to God, have experienced several trials, have had some involvement and some experience and you have some practical understanding of the truth. But you don’t know to rely on God and you don’t understand how to look to God or rely on Him; then you are a fool. Why do I say this? Some people say: “I understand many truths and possess the reality of the truth. It’s okay just to do things in a principled way. I am loyal to God and I know how to get close to God. Isn’t it enough that I rely on the truth?” “Relying on the truth” works fine, doctrinally speaking. But there are many times and many situations wherein people don’t know what the truth is or what the principles of the truth are. All those with practical experience know this. For example, when you encounter some issue, you don’t know how the truth relevant to this issue should be practiced or how it should be applied. So what should you do at times like these? No matter how much practical experience you have, you cannot be in possession of the truth in all situations. No matter how many years you have believed in God, how many things you have experienced, how much pruning and dealing you have experienced or how much disciplining you have experienced, are you the source of the truth? Some people say: “I know the book The Word Appears in the Flesh by heart, and can memorize those well-known words and passages. I don’t need to rely on God or look to God. When the time comes, I will be fine just relying on those words of God.” Those words are static, yet the environments people encounter and their states are dynamic. Isn’t that the case? Having a grasp of the literal words does not amount to an understanding of the truth. Nor does having a grasp of the literal words amount to you completely understanding God’s will in every situation. So there is a very important lesson to be learned here. What is this lesson? It is that people need to look to God in all things and, by looking to God, they achieve a reliance on God. Only by relying on God do people have a path to follow. Otherwise, they can do something correctly and in conformity with the principles of the truth, but if they don’t rely on God, then what they do is just man’s deed, and it does not necessarily satisfy God. Because people receive the truth in such a shallow way, they are likely to follow rules and cling obstinately to letters and doctrines by using the same truth when facing different situations. There are many times where matters are completed generally in conformity with the principles of the truth, but God’s guidance is not present, nor is the work of the Holy Spirit. There is a serious problem here, which is that people do many things in dependence on their experience and the rules they have understood, and on some human imagination. They can barely achieve the best result with the help of God’s work and His guidance, after accurately understanding God’s will by looking to God and praying to God. So I say: The greatest wisdom is to look to God and rely on God in all things. Is this a tenable thing to say? (Yes.) So are you planning to put this into practice? (Yes.)
Some people say: “I’m young, at a young age, my stature is small and I have believed in God only for a short time. I don’t know how to look up to God, so this lesson about looking to God is difficult for me. I don’t know how to rely on God, either.” Is this a problem? (Yes.) Is looking up to God an empty doctrine? Is it a formality? No. Some people say: “Most of the things we look to God for are our duties. We don’t need to look to God with regard to our own personal trifles. God doesn’t care about them.” Is this interpretation correct? (No, it’s wrong.) So in what things should people look up to God? (All things.) What does “all things” mean? (Irrespective of whether a matter is big or small, we must look to God and rely on God.) With that stated, do you look to God when your hair is long and you want to have it cut? This has stumped you, hasn’t it? When you wake up in the morning with eyes full of sleep, your face feels tight and you want to wash it; do you look to God for this? You feel hungry although it’s not yet mealtime. Your meal isn’t ready yet, so what do you do? Do you look to God? Rely on God! Don’t let your stomach get empty and don’t allow it to grumble! What do you do? “This keyboard of mine doesn’t work well, and I can’t type on it. I don’t want to use a pen to note things down, I only want to record notes by typing. What do I do?” Do you look to God for this? This has stumped you, hasn’t it? Is this a problem? These may not be huge problems, but neither are they small—they are still problems nonetheless. Some involve the things of normal humanity, such as brushing your teeth, washing your face, having a shower, doing laundry and eating. It’s fine for you to handle these things yourself, but you must pray when you come across exceptional situations. Suppose your stomach is causing you discomfort today and it is affecting your duties. For this you must examine yourself and pray, saying: “Oh God, my stomach is causing me discomfort today. I cannot eat and it’s affecting my duties. Did I eat the wrong thing, catch a chill or are You disciplining me for not being devoted to my duties? I pray to You for enlightenment and guidance.” You must cry out to God in this way; this is what “looking to God” is. But you mustn’t allow your looking to God to influence all of your activities of normal humanity. After looking to God and praying, you should go have your meal as usual. If you cannot eat your meal, then find something more suitable to eat. If your stomach hurts so much, then take some medicine, and you must also pray and seek. This is what should be possessed by normal humanity. You must work with the things you should work with and not go looking for feelings. But you must still seek and look to God in this matter. Afterward, it’s possible that God will enlighten you by means of some matter: “You have shown some behavior during your duties that is not so good.” And you will realize this unconsciously. After you have realized this, you should then reflect and repent straight away. To repent, you must confess your sins before God: “Oh God, my purpose is mixed when doing my duties, I have personal intentions and I rely on my self-will. I am so capricious and I throw tantrums like a child, I have delayed Your work and affected the progress of my duties. I give thanks for Your discipline and for Your reproach. I won’t do this again. I pray to You to forgive me this one time.” After you pray, your heart is at peace. Although your illness affects your appetite, unbeknownst to you it gets better little by little. Man must do what they ought to do, but while they are doing it, they must not forget to rely on God—this is a way of practice. When you look to God, it’s possible that He doesn’t give you any feeling or any clear ideas, much less any clear directions, but He allows you to understand something. Or maybe this time you haven’t understood anything, but is it then right to look to God? Is it wrong? No, it isn’t wrong. People practicing in this way is not done to follow rules, but rather it is the needs of their hearts and is how man should practice. It’s not that you can obtain enlightenment and guidance every time you look to God and call on God. The spiritual states in life are normal and natural and looking to God is people’s normal contact with God in their hearts.
Sometimes, looking to God doesn’t mean speaking clearly when people pray to God for something, or for God to guide them in some way, or for God to protect them; rather it is that, when they encounter some issue, they are able to call on Him sincerely. So, what is God doing at that time? When someone’s heart stirs, and they have this idea: “Oh God, I can’t do this myself, I don’t know how to do it, and I feel weak and negative,” when these thoughts arise in them, does God not know about it? When these thoughts arise in man, are people’s hearts sincere? When they call on God sincerely in this way, does God assent to help them? Despite the fact that they may not have spoken a word, they show sincerity, and so God assents to help them. When someone encounters an especially thorny difficulty, when they have no one to turn to, when they feel especially helpless, they trust in God as their only hope. What are their prayers like? What is their state of mind? Is it sincere? Do they have any mixed purpose at that time? When you trust God as though He were the last straw that you clutch onto to save your life, when you hope God will help you, only then is your heart sincere. Though you may not have said much, your heart has already stirred. That is, you give your true heart, your sincere heart to God, and God listens. When God listens, He sees your difficulties, and He guides you, enlightens you and helps you. When is man’s heart at its most sincere? When they are at the end of the line. When someone in a desert cannot see one drop of water, is that feeling of needing water sincere? When you see a barrel of water but you’re not thirsty, and you say “I’d like some water to drink,” or you say “I like water, water is a good thing. Man cannot live without water, and water is the fountain of life,” where do these words come from? Do they come from your heart? (No, they don’t.) These words come from your mouth. You aren’t using your brain when you say this. It is a perfunctory comment and your heart is not stirred, and you’re not really in need. So when looking to God you should possess a certain heart and be in a certain state. What kind of state? Your heart should at the very least be sincere, not perfunctory, and you must stir your heart, not just move your lips. If you just say some words in a perfunctory manner, but your heart is not stirred, then this means that you have already had a plan, that you just notify God of what you are about to do and you will do it whether He gives you His consent or not, and that by doing this you are just going through the motions. This will only bring trouble.
People spend most of their time living in an unconscious state, not knowing whether it’s right to rely on God or on themselves. Then most of the time they choose to rely on themselves, to rely on the beneficial conditions and environments around them, as well as the people, events and things around them that are beneficial to them. This is what people are best at. What people are worst at is relying on God and looking to God, because they feel that looking to God is too much bother. They can’t see Him or feel Him, so they feel it is vague and not realistic to do so. People perform the worst with this lesson, and their entry into it is the shallowest. If you don’t learn how to look to God and rely on God, you will never see the work God does on you, or the guidance and enlightenment He gives to you; then the matter of whether or not God exists, whether or not He guides everything in the life of mankind will, in the depths of your heart, end with a question mark and not with a period or exclamation mark. “Does God guide everything in the life of mankind?” “Does God observe the depths of man’s heart?” This will be troublesome. For what reason do you make this a question and add a question mark? If you do not truly rely on God or look to Him, you will not be able to generate a true belief in God. If you can’t generate a true belief in God, then the question marks will forever be there with everything God does, and there will be no periods. In your free time, you may ask yourselves: “I believe in God. But is ‘God dominates all things’ a question for me, with a question mark at the end of it? Like ‘Does God dominate all things?’ ‘God dominates all things’? Or ‘Does God dominate all things, or not?’” Try to ponder in your hearts what exactly your states are. Or you may have experienced some issues and you say: “God dominates all things!!!” You are certain, you use exclamation marks, and what’s more you use three exclamation marks, so that no one can cast any doubt on it or deny it. Which of these states describes you? According to your current statures and states, the majority of you have question marks, not just one question mark but countless question marks, so you are in great danger. On what basis is the size of people’s stature ascertained? Why do I say you are small of stature? People’s stature depends on how much true belief in God they possess. How much do you possess? Have you ever examined yourselves? Most young people learn some things about belief in God from their parents, or from their relatives or family elders and they think belief in God is good, that it is positive. But they haven’t yet tested or verified them, so they have too many question marks. Most of the things they say are uncertain, and they do not end with exclamation marks but question marks. This is so troublesome. Those who are 16 or 17, who are around 20 and not yet 30 make up a large number in God’s family. In this age group, it’s normal to have many question marks. But after you have been performing your duties for some time, how many of these question marks can be removed? Can they be turned into exclamation marks? This depends on your experience. Is this important? This is so important!
What did I say just now was man’s greatest wisdom? (Looking to God.) So are you afraid of being inconvenienced? Some people say: “This is so conventional. If we look to God regardless of what happens, won’t God be bothered? If we are always looking to God, won’t we be like old women, nagging on and on?” What do you think of these words? Although looking to God may sound like a simple way to practice, this is a lesson that all those who follow God should study and enter their entire lives. When Job was in his 70s, did he look to God? (Yes.) How did he look to God? What were his specific expressions when looking to God? When all his wealth and children were taken from him, how did he look to God? He prayed in his heart, and he did some actions. What is it said he did in the Bible? (“Rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down on the ground, and worshipped” (Job 1:20).) He fell to the ground to worship—that is an expression of looking to God. Are you able to achieve this? (We haven’t achieved this yet.) So will you seek to achieve this? If man can achieve this, then they will be perfect! But before this can be achieved you must have the resolution to endure suffering. Remember this.
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