How to Know Oneself

The Fruits That Come of Knowing Oneself

　　Salvation is what we are after today, the salvation by God. And those who seek it must know themselves. It is necessary to know what fruits one must ultimately attain in order to live up to God’s standards. This is an absolute must. So what are the spiritual fruits one must achieve to finally measure up to God’s expectations? Only when man realizes that he is the son of hell will God finally be satisfied—His word is very clear about this fact. Much of it reveals to us that man is the descendant of Satan, and when God judges and chastises us He says that we are indeed children of the great red dragon, and that we are the offspring of Satan. From this we can see the benchmark we need to meet in order to know ourselves. Beyond that, we see from the word of God the deep corruption of mankind on account of Satan. And though many people are believers, God has no place in their heart, and very few people have a genuine fear of God. Corrupt mankind is just like Satan; man is a worshipper of Satan, a follower of Satan, and even the servant of Satan with a similar disposition. However Satan resists God, so corrupt mankind also resists; however Satan judges God, so does corrupt mankind judges; however Satan betrays God, corrupt mankind also betrays God. Human beings have become the descendants of Satan, and those born of Satan are most certainly identical to it in their nature. Now we see that all the philosophies, points of view, and knowledge within man are filled with Satan’s poison, that humans have become dominated by Satan’s poison, meaning that corrupt mankind’s nature is the same as that of Satan, Satan’s nature is mankind’s nature, the essence of Satan has become corrupt mankind’s nature. Mankind has a satanic disposition, and so he is born to be at odds with God. Evil is in his deeds, words and thoughts, and all the day it is wicked thoughts that come into his mind. In other words, mankind has been deeply corrupted by Satan. This is a necessary fruit you must gain in knowing yourself. There will come a day when you realize that you absolutely do not have any conscience or reason, and as a created being, you simply cannot worship God in a normal way. Besides, no matter how much of God’s grace and love you have enjoyed in your life, you do not know how to repay that love. In the service of God you show no consideration for His will. You only know how to satisfy yourself, to make sure your needs are met, and to achieve your own desires. At that very moment you will see that you yourself have been deeply and utterly corrupted by Satan, without the least bit of normal humanity, and with a nature that is resistant and hostile to God. Why does God wish to perfect man? Because only the perfected can serve Him, and only the saved can truly worship Him. Without the salvation of God incarnate, not one of corrupt mankind could be a true worshiper of God; they would just be using God, praying to Him like beggars daily, and doing so only for the sake of this or that personal gain; begging for help for our own selfish purposes, and treating God as nothing but the object of exploitation. So is this true worship? No, it is not. Thus, man’s prayers are highly exploitative, man is just looking to God for help, and is not truly worshiping Him. When God has answered his prayer, he isn’t even thankful, and doesn’t even think to return God’s love, which is just how senseless man’s behavior toward God is—he is absolutely conscienceless. He’s simply an animal in human attire. So, in knowing yourself it is imperative to realize just how lacking you are in humanity, and how before God you have no conscience and no reason, how you are ungrateful and even requite kindness with enmity. God indulges you ninety-nine times, and you’re all amens and hallelujahs, and He doesn’t satisfy you just that one time and suddenly you’re all grumbles and groans; you actually complain about Him. Isn’t this what’s called being an ingrate? When God does not meet man’s demands just once, they become indignant and consider God as an enemy; this is just how man is toward God. You must realize just how corrupt you are—you must be absolutely clear about this. The first precept is, understanding that man’s nature is Satan’s nature, which betrays God. This is the first part of knowing yourself, the first fruit to be achieved. The second precept is, knowing the life you live is a mirror image of Satan, with no resemblance to true humanity. The third precept is, realizing that you are most definitely Satan’s offspring, you are a child of the great red dragon, that you have sold out to the enemy by regarding Satan as a father. You treat the great red dragon as your father and you rebel against God. You see how the great red dragon persecutes God, you see its nature and its deeds, then look again to see if the substantial things of the great red dragon exist in mankind. We can see how maliciously and brutally the great red dragon and Satan exercise power to persecute and murder people. If corrupt men seize power and impose dictatorship, would they act like the great red dragon? Would they slaughter countless scores of people? Just look at the emperors of ancient China, which one took fewer lives? They were all the same. Therefore, if corrupt men seize power, they would be much like the emperors of old and the great red dragon; the only difference would be how many people they would slaughter. No single emperor could ever lead his subjects to worship God. They were all just like Satan the betrayer of God, only desiring to dominate their own people, disallowing them from worshiping God and finding the true way of God’s salvation; their nature was no different than that of the great red dragon. And part four of knowing yourself is, that you must realize the fact that corrupt mankind belongs to Satan, is dominated by Satan, follows Satan, and worships Satan. The whole human race follows the trend of the world. But what is the trend of the world? It is following Satan, which is definitely not what God desires. The trend of the world is the diametric opposite of the mind of God, it runs us faster on the road toward evil, it moves us further away from God and drags us deeper into the trap. If all human beings follow Satan, and if man has a satanic nature and lives in the image of Satan, then who is it that corrupt humankind belongs to? Some people believe in God, but their nature, essence and heart are completely given over to Satan. Although some people believe in God and are willing to pursue the truth and receive salvation, their nature always takes over, they often go against God, rebelling against Him, drifting away from Him, and frequently bemoaning and making complaints to Him in spite of themselves. If mankind’s heart has not been corrupted by Satan, if he is not controlled by Satan, then why can’t he act according to his own will? Why does he do what he would not? This just goes to show that man has a satanic nature, and that his very nature is one that will surely betray God. So God has said that there is always a chance that man will betray Him—a one hundred percent chance. Today we see some brothers and sisters in fervent search of the true way, and you see them in high spirits. Then you ask them if they are truly ready to accept Almighty God, and their answer is “yes.” And then you ask about a guarantee that they can follow God to the end. They answer back that they can absolutely guarantee it! Yet you never know when there will come a day that they are tempted or tried but cannot overcome it, and then they fall away from God. They can’t help it. For the moment there is no adversity, there are no tribulations, so people always think positive and feel willing to follow God to the very end, so that they can be saved and perfected and become eventual survivors. But willingness is meaningless; mankind doesn’t have his nature in his own hands, he just cannot control himself, so when encountering some unexpected adversity, or simply being tested like Job, people are likely to blame God, then rebel against Him and go to follow Satan, which they do in spite of themselves. But how come man does these things in spite of himself? It is because he has no control over his nature, he is not in charge of himself. Therefore, God has said that man will betray Him at any time, and the chances of that betrayal are one hundred percent. This is absolutely true, for God is the Creator and the Creator knows perfectly the extent of man’s corruption. These are the four results that you must achieve in knowing yourself and are the requirements and standards of God that you should live up to. If you can meet His standards, then that just goes to show that you truly know yourself, and that you are truly clear about your own nature, and your own corrupt essence, as well as who you truly belong to and the final destination and ending that you deserve.

Practicing the Truth and the Duties One Should Do

　　Most people now are basically clear regarding the question of what after all we should obtain from our faith in God, namely we obtain from God the truth, the way, and the life. On the two occasions that He was God incarnate, God said that He is the truth, the way, and the life. This also explains that God’s intention and the aim of God’s work is to confer upon man the truth, the way, and the life. Regardless of the manner in which God conducts His work, men are able to obtain from God the truth, the way, and the life. What is the relationship between the truth, the way, and the life? We may put it this way, the truth is the life, and it is the path that man ought to follow. Once he obtains the truth, he also has life, and he has a path for his life. Once he obtains the truth, all is resolved. These three things are in fact one thing that is explained from three aspects, God is the truth and He is also the life and the way. These three aspects are three major aspects that ought to be resolved through man’s belief in God. Once these three questions are resolved, the important questions in the life of man are resolved. We obtain life once we have the truth, and the truth itself is also the way. When we have the life, our lives are resolved, and when we have life, the fundamental questions of man are resolved. This is precisely the entire work of God’s salvation of man, and it is a simple and generalized way of explaining it.