help me clean the vegetables.

Brother Zhao will be here for a meeting soon.

Oh.

There's no one outside, right?

No.

The CCP

keeps changing its methods to eliminate religious faith and watch over us Christians.

Spying on us, questioning us,

it's really just despicable!

Oh.

We have to make sure the area's safe,

so the brothers and sisters can meet without worrying.

Oh.

Hey, this is a serious topic,

can you stop answering me in monosyllables?

Oh.

Hey!

Oh.

What's on your mind?

Oh, nothing.

Nothing?

Your face is as long as a horse's.

Something's on your mind.

Oh, well, it's the church election. (Yes?)

Sister Chen and Brother Wang were elected as a church leader and deacon,

and Sister Zhao was elected as a group leader,

but me?

They've left me at home doing hosting duty.

So what?

You think hosting is a waste of your talent?

Well, I was thinking about it,

and when I believed in the Lord, I was a church worker and gave sermons.

Now, I've accepted God's work of the last days for almost a year.

So in the church I at least ought to be in a leadership position, right?

Oh!

No wonder I've seen you looking upset the last few days.

You want to be a leader, and you're not happy with hosting duty?

Well, listen, here's what I see:

There's so much work in the church to do right now,

and they need people to help.

Me wanting to be a leader should be in accord with God's will, right?

Alright, (Yes?)

it's good to want to be a leader and care for God's will,

but do you have the realities of truth now?

Can you use the truth to resolve our brothers' and sisters' difficulties and problems?

Who says I can't?

Can you lead the brothers and sisters in practicing

and experiencing God's words? (I am entirely—)

Without the realities of truth, how can we lead other people?

Do you think this is the same as being a preacher in religion,

where you only had to talk about biblical knowledge, theology,

and give testimony of enjoying God's grace,

working, and suffering? (Oh, never mind.)

Ming'en, look at yourself!

Since you believed in the Lord,

you have done some work and suffered, that's true,

but now you can't even be obedient about hosting duty!

That means you haven't changed.

This isn't sincere repentance!

Excuse me!

How haven't I achieved real repentance and change?

Yeah, I do have some opinions about being on hosting duty,

but I still accepted and obeyed, didn't I?

Also, in the past, I never submitted to anyone,

but now I can accept whatever people tell me,

and I'm happy to be the humblest of all.

That's repentance and change, isn't it?

That's outward obedience, not obedience in your heart.

How could you call that genuine repentance?

Fine, then you tell me,

if this isn't genuine repentance, what is?

That …

Yeah?

I can't explain it. Ask Brother Zhao in a bit.

All that arguing and you don't know anything about it! (Yes, I do.)

You're wrong about that.

Forget it. I'll go open the door.

It's you. Come in.

OK.

Hi, Brother Zhao. (Sister Li.)

I'll go get the book.

Okay.

Brother Zhao, it's good you're here.

There's a question I'm confused about. I wanted to ask you.

What question?

It's this,

when I believed in the Lord, I always thought,

since I had believed for a long time,

forsaken everything to work and preach,

traveled long distances, and suffered much,

that I was quite an impressive person,

and that I was better than the others, so I looked down on them.

In the year since accepting Almighty God's work of the last days,

I've understood some truth,

then achieved some change.

I can seriously listen to what young brothers and sisters like you say,

and I can accept what accords with the truth.

I'm not as arrogant as I was in the past.

Also, I can obediently submit to whatever duties the church arranges for me.

So, wouldn't you say that's sincere repentance and change?

But she insists that I haven't changed.

I can't get through to her.

Maybe you can fellowship, so she'll understand! (Hey, hey!)

What are you doing, putting it all on my head?

I'm just telling him the truth! (As if you are!)

That's not the truth at all!

Sister Li, Brother Zhang, listen, let's all sit down.

Let's hear what Brother Zhao has to say. (Yeah, let's sit down.)

You don't know what you're talking about. (I deal with this every day.)

Brother Zhang, (Yes.)

after we accept Almighty God's work of the last days,

we do indeed achieve some change,

and we show some real faith in God.

But, these are just changes in our behaviors.

We only become a bit more reasonable in our words and actions,

and gain more of the decency of the saints.

But, if we haven't resolved the corruptions within us,

we can't call it true repentance and change.

What?

This is just behavioral change, not true repentance and change? (Yeah.)

Brother Zhao, give us the detailed version.

First, let's read two passages of Almighty God's words,

and we'll understand

why behavioral change is different from dispositional change.

Oh, okay.

Here, Brother Zhang, you read.

Alright, I'll read.

I need to put on my glasses.

The next part is good too. I'll read it.

Yes. OK.

Wow! God's words really are practical! (Yeah.)

In the past, that's exactly what I thought.

If I don't strike others, curse others, or take advantage of others,

forsake, expend, labor, work, and do whatever the church arranges for me,

that is genuine repentance and true change.

But if I compare that to God's word,

I don't think I'm understanding it right!

God's word says it very clearly.

After we believe in God, even though we achieve some change,

such as not being as arrogant as before,

being more humble and tolerant in our interactions,

being able to continue spreading the gospel and performing our duties in adverse environments,

and even being able to not deny God

when we are arrested and imprisoned by the CCP, (Right.)

these things are just outward behavioral changes,

and they don't mean we have genuinely repented,

or that we have achieved a change in our life disposition.

Behavioral change comes from the work of the Holy Spirit,

or from enthusiasm,

or from maintaining self-control and abiding by rules.

These changes aren't long-lasting and don't stand up to testing.

The satanic nature of resisting God within us and our satanic dispositions haven't been resolved,

so the moment God's work doesn't accord with our notions,

our satanic nature of resisting God will be exposed,

and we can rebel against God, resist God, or even deny and betray God.

It sounds very dangerous if we don't change our life disposition! (Yeah.)

The difference between behavioral change and dispositional change is pretty big.

Yeah. Yes.

It's just like the Jewish Pharisees.

They traveled to all corners of the earth to spread their faith,

interpreted the Scriptures for people, and taught others to keep the laws.

Others saw them as very spiritual and very pious.

They seemed to be very obedient to God.

From their behavior, you can't see any problems, can you? (Yeah.)

Then why did they nail the Lord Jesus to the cross?

Because by their nature,

they were arrogant, self-righteous, hated God, and hated the truth.

So, even though they clearly knew that what the Lord Jesus expressed was the way of truth,

they didn't seek or investigate,

and they strove to resist and condemn the Lord Jesus.

What does this prove?

It proves that all their good deeds were hypocritical.

They were done to deceive people.

Right!

If people only have good behavior without changing their satanic nature,

they can still resist God.

When you put it like that,

it reminds me of Pastor Wu from my old church.

He was outwardly humble and kind,

and was usually loving to others.

When he prayed, he was so repentant he would weep.

He looked very pious.

But when he heard about Almighty God's work of the last days,

his demeanor immediately changed, his eyes went red,

and he wantonly judged, condemned, slandered, and blasphemed Almighty God.

He also insulted and beat brothers and sisters who witnessed God's last-days work. (That's right.)

He even incited us to call the police on them!

All the venom and rage in him showed right through.

You have no idea, Brother Zhao.

It was incredible to me.

How could Pastor Wu, who normally seemed so humble and kind,

become so vicious in the blink of an eye? (Yeah.)

How is he any different than the Pharisees?

There's no difference at all!

Right.

The example of the Pharisees and the pastors and elders makes the problem very clear. (Exactly.)

No matter how many good deeds a person does,

it's not genuine repentance and change.

You know,

without this fellowship, I wouldn't see it so clearly.

Thanks be to God!

So, Ming'en, now you'll admit I'm right?

Look at you, you always rub my nose in it!

I don't understand the truth,

so I'm seeking it, aren't I?

Right, you're seeking, you're seeking.

Yes.

The more we discuss and fellowship on the truth,

the more clear it becomes. (Yes.)

Absolutely!

Hey, Brother Zhao, (Yes?)

let's fellowship more on what genuine repentance is.

Genuine repentance means change in a person's disposition,

genuine obedience of God, and being able to do God's will.

If we read Almighty God's word, we'll understand even more clearly. (Alright.)

Hey, I'll read it. (Okay.)

Here, it's this one.

Oh, 'kay.

So dispositional change refers to a change in our natures?

Dispositional change doesn't refer to being able to labor, work, forsake, and expend for God,

and it doesn't mean outwardly appearing to be pious or doing good deeds.

It means experiencing God's work, understanding the truth,

coming to know the truth of our own corruption by Satan,

seeing how ugly and despicable we are when we live by our corrupt dispositions,

and developing genuine loathing of our satanic natures.

That gives us true repentance,

which makes us willing to pursue the truth and live by God's words,

which in turn produces a change in our views,

makes us able to resolve our satanic dispositions and natures which resist God,

and allows us to fear God and shun evil,

so that we never again rebel against or resist God in any situation,

so that we can obey God and be compatible with God,

and we can do God's will.

This is what dispositional change means,

and what genuine repentance means.

Now I understand.

The point of genuine repentance

is primarily to change the satanic natures within us that resist God,

so that we can be truly obedient to God and change our life disposition.

But, Brother Zhao, (Yes?)

then what does satanic nature refer to?