After talking about some of these things, now do you feel you have learned something about the main topic we just discussed? Do you feel you are starting to understand it? I believe you should now have a rough idea of why I chose to talk about these aspects within the broader topic. Is that the case? Perhaps you could talk a little about how much of it you understood. (All of mankind has been nurtured by the laws determined by God for all things. When God was determining these laws, He provided different races with different environments, different lifestyles, different foods, and different climates and temperatures. This was so that all of mankind could settle on the earth and survive. From this I can see God’s plans for mankind’s survival are very precise and I can see His wisdom and perfection, and His love for us humans.) (The laws and scopes determined by God cannot be changed by any person, event, or thing. It is all under His rule.) Looking from the perspective of the laws determined by God for the growth of all things, is not all of mankind, in all its variety, provided for and nurtured by God? If these laws were destroyed or if God had not established these laws for mankind, what would mankind’s prospects be? After humans lost their basic environments for survival, would they have any source of food? It is possible that food sources would become a problem. If people lost their sources of food, that is, if they could not get anything to eat, how many days would they be able to carry on? Possibly they would not last for even a single month, and their very survival would become a problem. So every single thing that God does for people’s survival, for their continuing existence, reproduction, and subsistence is very important. Every single thing that God does among the things of His creation is closely related to and inseparable from the survival of mankind. If mankind’s survival became a problem, could God’s management continue? Would God’s management still exist? God’s management coexists with the survival of all mankind whom He nurtures, so no matter what preparations God makes for all things of His creation and what He does for humans, this is all necessary for Him, and it is critical for mankind’s survival. If these laws that God determined for all things were departed from, if these laws were broken or disrupted, all things would no longer be able to exist, mankind’s environment for survival would not continue to exist, nor their daily sustenance, nor mankind itself. For this reason, God’s management of mankind’s salvation would also cease to exist.

Everything that we have discussed, every single thing, every item is intimately linked to the survival of every single person. You might say, “What You are talking about is too big, it is not something that we can see,” and perhaps there are people who would say, “What You are talking about has nothing to do with me.” However, do not forget that you are living as just a part of all things; you are one among all the things of creation under God’s rule. The things of God’s creation cannot be separated from His rule, and not a single person can separate themselves from His rule. Losing His rule and losing His provision would mean that people’s lives, people’s fleshly lives, would disappear. This is the importance of God establishing environments for survival for mankind. It does not matter what race you belong to or what piece of land you live on, be it in the West or the East—you cannot separate yourself from the environment for survival that God has established for mankind, and you cannot separate yourself from the nurture and provisions of the environment for survival He has established for humans. No matter what your livelihood is, what you rely on to live, and what you rely on to sustain your life in the flesh, you cannot separate yourself from God’s rule and His management. Some people say: “I am not a farmer; I don’t plant crops for a living. I don’t rely on the heavens for my food, so my survival is not taking place within the environment for survival established by God. I have not been given anything from that kind of environment.” Is that right? You say that you do not plant crops for your living, but do you not eat grains? Do you not eat meat and eggs? And do you not eat vegetables and fruit? Everything that you eat, all of these things that you need, are inseparable from the environment for survival established by God for mankind. And the source of everything that mankind requires cannot be separated from all the things created by God, which in their totality constitute your environments for survival. The water you drink, the clothing you wear and all the things that you use—which of these is not obtained from among the things of God’s creation? Some people say: “There are some items that are not obtained from the things of God’s creation. You see, plastic is one of those items. It is a chemical thing, a man-made thing.” Is that right? Plastic is indeed man-made, and it is a chemical thing, but where did the original components of plastic come from? The original components were obtained from materials created by God. The things that you see and enjoy, every single thing that you use, it is all obtained from the things which God created. That is to say, no matter what race a person might belong to, no matter what livelihood, or in what type of environment for survival they might live, they cannot separate themselves from what God has provided. So are these things that we have discussed today related to our topic of “God Is the Source of Life for All Things”? Do the things we have discussed today fall under this larger topic? (Yes.) Perhaps some of what I have talked about today is a little abstract and difficult to discuss. However, I think that you probably have a better understanding of it now.

These last few times in fellowship, the range of the topics that we have had fellowship on has been rather broad, and their scope rather wide, so it takes some effort for you to take it all in. This is because these topics are things that have never been dealt with before in people’s belief in God. Some people hear these things as a mystery and some people hear them as a story—which perspective is right? From what perspective do you hear all of this? (We have seen how methodically God has arranged all the things of His creation and that all things have laws, and through these words we can understand more of God’s deeds and His meticulous arrangements for the salvation of mankind.) Through these times in fellowship, have you seen how far the scope of God’s management of all things extends? (Over all of mankind, over everything.) Is God the God of one race only? Is He the God of one type of people? Is He the God of just a small portion of mankind? (No, He is not.) Since that is not the case, if, according to your knowledge of God, He is only the God of a small portion of mankind, or if He is your God alone, is this perspective correct? Since God manages and rules over all things, people should see His deeds, His wisdom, and His almightiness that are revealed in His rule over all things. This is something that people must know. If you say that God manages all things, rules over all things, and rules over all of mankind, but if you have no understanding of or insight into His rule over mankind, can you really acknowledge that He rules over all things? You may think in your heart, “I can, because I see that my life is ruled over entirely by God.” But is God really that small? No, He is not! You only see God’s salvation for you and His work in you, and it is from these things alone that you see His rule. That is too small of a scope, and it has a detrimental impact on your prospects for genuine knowledge of God. It also limits your genuine knowledge of God’s rule over all things. If you limit your knowledge of God to the scope of what God provides for you and His salvation for you, you will never be able to recognize that He rules over everything, that He rules over all things, and rules over all of mankind. When you fail to recognize all of this, can you truly recognize the fact that God rules over your fate? No, you cannot. In your heart you will never be able to recognize that aspect—you will never be able to reach such a high level of understanding. You understand what I am saying, yes? Actually, I know to what degree you are able to understand these topics, this content that I am talking about, so why do I keep talking about it? It is because these topics are things that must be appreciated by every single follower of God, every single person who wants to be saved by God—it is essential to understand these topics. Even though at this moment you do not understand them, someday, when your life and your experience of the truth reach a certain level, when the change in your life disposition reaches a certain level and you attain a certain degree of stature, only then will these topics that I am communicating to you in fellowship truly provide for and satisfy your pursuit of knowledge of God. So these words are to lay a foundation, to prepare you for your future understanding that God rules over all things and for your understanding of God Himself.

However much understanding of God there is in people’s hearts, that is also the extent of the position He holds in their hearts. However great the degree of knowledge of God is in their hearts, that is how great God is in their hearts. If the God that you know is empty and vague, then the God you believe in is also empty and vague. The God that you know is limited to the scope of your own personal life, and has nothing to do with the true God Himself. Thus, knowing God’s practical actions, knowing the reality of God and His omnipotence, knowing the true identity of God Himself, knowing what He has and is, knowing the actions that He has manifested among all the things of His creation—these things are very important to every single person who pursues knowledge of God. They have a direct bearing on whether people can enter into the truth reality. If you limit your understanding of God to just words, if you limit it to your own little experiences, to what you figure to be God’s grace, or your little testimonies to God, then I say that the God you believe in is absolutely not the true God Himself. Not only that, but it can also be said that the God you believe in is an imaginary God, not the true God. This is because the true God is the One that rules over everything, that walks among everything, that manages everything. He is the One that holds the fate of all of mankind and of everything in His hands. The work and actions of the God that I am talking about are not just limited to a small portion of people. That is, they are not limited to just the people who currently follow Him. His deeds are manifested among all things, in the survival of all things, and in the laws of change of all things. If you cannot see or recognize any deeds of God among all the things of His creation, then you cannot bear witness to any of His deeds. If you cannot bear witness for God, if you continue to speak of the small so-called “God” that you know, that God who is limited to your own ideas and exists only within the narrow confines of your mind, if you continue to speak of that kind of God, then God will never praise your faith. When you bear witness for God, if you do so only in terms of how you enjoy God’s grace, how you accept God’s discipline and His chastening, and how you enjoy His blessings in your witness for Him, then that is nowhere near enough and not even close to satisfying Him. If you want to bear witness for God in a way that accords with His will, to bear witness for the true God Himself, then you must see what God has and is from His actions. You must see God’s authority from His control of everything, and see the truth of how He provides for all of mankind. If you only acknowledge that your daily sustenance and your necessities in life come from God, but you fail to see the truth that God has taken all the things of His creation for the provision of all of mankind, and that, by ruling over all things, He is leading all of mankind, then you will never be able to bear witness for God. What is My purpose in saying all of this? It is so that you do not take this lightly, so that you do not mistakenly believe that these topics I have spoken about are irrelevant to your own personal life entry, and so that you do not take these topics as being just a type of knowledge or doctrine. If you listen to what I am saying with that kind of attitude, then you will not gain a single thing. You will lose this great opportunity to know God.

What is My goal in talking about all of these things? My goal is to have people know God, to have people understand God’s practical actions. Once you understand God and you know His actions, only then do you have the opportunity or the possibility to know Him. If, for example, you want to understand a person, how would you come to understand them? Would it be through looking at their outward appearance? Would it be through looking at what they wear and how they dress? Would it be through looking at how they walk? Would it be through looking at the scope of their knowledge? (No.) So how do you understand a person? You make judgments based on a person’s speech and behavior, their thoughts and the things they express and reveal about themselves. This is how you get to know a person, how you understand a person. Likewise, if you want to know God, if you want to understand His practical side, His true side, you must know Him through His deeds and through every single practical thing He does. This is the best way, and it is the only way.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique IX