(Minghui.org) I want to talk about a couple of issues that are easily exploited by the old forces, and there have been many lessons in this regard. We need to remember that Falun Dafa practitioners are the ones exposing the brutal persecution in order for ordinary people to have a clear understanding of Dafa, make their choice in this regard, and set them up for salvation in the future. We are not telling people about the persecution in the hopes that some ordinary person or public figure can save us. It is the other way around. It might seem like they can help us, but the issue is really making sure that they know the truth. In both cases, exposing the evil persecution is the action on the surface, but the starting point, or intention, is very different.

Master said,

“We haven’t paid attention to what attitude people have as we’re subjected to persecution, and we haven’t placed our hopes in ordinary people doing something for Dafa…” (“Fa Teaching Given at the 2009 Washington, D.C. International Fa Conference”)

Master has talked about this issue many times. When we approach it from the standpoint of putting our hopes in public figures, rather than simply making sure they know the truth, the old forces will use that to expose that backward way of thinking and turn the tables.

Examples of this have happened with every change in leadership in China since Jiang Zemin, the former Chinese leader who launched the persecution of Falun Gong in 1999, and continue to this day. Each time a new leader or public figure comes along, practitioners start murmuring, “If only so-and-so becomes the new leader…that will change everything.” The same happens here in the U.S.

More recently, some practitioners in the U.S. and abroad became hopeful that a certain political party would be able to solve things for Dafa if only they got to be in charge. There are practitioners who have even said, “Focus on the members of a certain party. They are sympathetic and on our side. We need to reach the upper level of government,” or even, “members of another party may cause problems if we involve them.” The intent is clear. It isn’t from a place of offering salvation and clarifying the truth that such truth-clarification efforts are coming from. It is from a point of expecting those ordinary people to use their influence to solve Dafa’s problems. These are secular and utilitarian thoughts.

Our role is to clarify the truth to all levels and every segment of society. If looked at from the perspective of saving people alone, it seems that those who are not currently sympathetic might need an even better effort on our part than those who are already in agreement with us.

Master said in his recent article,

“The Democratic Party and the Republican Party are both just worldly entities. Every individual is someone whom the divine wants to save from this world. You have no business thinking that you will only try to help individuals who belong to one political party, and not the other. They are all my people!” (“A Wake-Up Call”)

We should not label people as radical “agitators” or treat them differently based on their political affiliation. Many people have been misled by modern notions, and they need to be saved.

Master also said,

“Only when all people know the truth that they should know are you really validating the Fa and clarifying the facts. Wherever a problem surfaces, go tell people the facts, and you shouldn’t be doing it just to push the lawsuit forward but to tell them the facts.” (“’Fa Teaching Given at the Metropolitan New York Fa Conference,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World, Volume III)

While in this case, Master is referencing lawsuits against Jiang Zemin, it can be understood that the actual issue wasn’t about the lawsuit succeeding or not. It was about clarifying the truth to everyone along the way. The lawsuit never put anyone in real legal trouble, but many, many beings were saved in the process. At each and every step was someone waiting for that encounter.

When the new FBI director took office, I observed some practitioners openly putting their hopes in him. It was as if they were thinking, “This person can use his capabilities to save Dafa practitioners from trouble. Maybe he will root out the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spies for us.” Maybe he would, maybe he wouldn’t, but as soon as Dafa practitioners start thinking this way, the old forces will see these practitioners’ limited understanding and that they are essentially begging for help from ordinary humans. When they see this, they might turn the tables and have that person be busy doing other things.

When tariffs are implemented, they put China and the CCP in a tight spot. The Chinese economy was greatly affected, and social unrest was starting to be a problem for the CCP. Many practitioners were craning their necks in anticipation that “the president will end the CCP if this keeps up.” Once that thinking became prevalent among practitioners, the president started praising Xi and negotiated away most of the tariffs. The old forces seize on this issue every single time, yet we don’t seem to correct our thinking.

An ordinary person with a mission, or a political party, are doing what they are supposed to—as a part of changes in the celestial climate. When they do something right, they are simply conforming to the celestial climate. They are not our saviors, and we shouldn’t expect others to accomplish our missions.

The president is just the man who is placed in office at this time. He has a certain role to play in this time period. His party generally espouses conservative and traditional values, so practitioners can easily relate to them. In many ways, things he has done for ordinary society might have helped prevent certain social degeneration, but that isn’t really something of Dafa disciples’ mission. It is just a phenomenon of the degeneration and destruction phases. The president cannot solve the tribulations that we as practitioners must face, however.

When we put a lot of effort into only clarifying the truth to only this or that group, or only this or that level of government, we are spending a lot of time that may be better spent on those who aren’t supportive, or don’t yet understand the facts. Focusing on the key figure of a party or someone who holds a key position on a certain committee because “they can help” shows exactly where the starting point is. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t seek their support, or that asking them to speak out is not correct. It is just that our reason for seeking them out should be that they do not yet know the truth and that the facts will save them, as opposed to Dafa needing their help to resolve some tribulation it has encountered.

Master says:

“I have to do a tremendous amount of preparation, which you cannot see, and certain divine beings work on it too. Everything has been prepared, and all that’s missing is for you to carry it out.” (“Dafa Disciples Must Study the Fa,” Collected Teachings Given Around the World Volume XI)

All people, from all walks of life and society, have been part of this preparation and are just waiting for the action of Dafa disciples. The lessons here have been continuous and consistent. If we put our hopes in key political figures, instead of just seeking out those who don’t yet know the facts and telling them the facts, the old forces might just turn those people’s attention elsewhere or even against our efforts. Similar lessons have happened many times in China, as well as in the U.S. and Taiwan. We should have learned our lessons were we true practitioners.

At all levels of society and government there are people we need to save, and we cannot be selective. We simply need to talk to people who either don’t know about Dafa or who have been deceived and tell them the facts. We are helping save them, and no ordinary person can solve our tribulation.