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Let’s start our meeting. Let’s first read a passage of God’s word, “In Your Faith in God You Should Obey God.”
“Why do you believe in God? Most people are confounded by this question. They always have two entirely different viewpoints about the practical God and the God in heaven, which shows that they believe in God not in order to obey, but to receive certain benefits, or to escape the suffering of disaster. Only then are they somewhat obedient, but their obedience is conditional, it is for the sake of their own personal prospects, and forced upon them. So: why do you believe in God? If it is solely for the sake of your prospects, and your fate, then you’d best not believe. Belief such as this is self-deception, self-reassurance, and self-appreciation. If your faith is not built upon the foundation of obedience to God, then you will ultimately be punished as a result of opposing God. All those who do not seek obedience to God in their faith oppose God. God asks that people seek the truth, that they thirst for God’s words, and eat and drink God’s words, and put them into practice, so that they may achieve obedience to God. If your motivations are truly thus, then God will surely raise you up, and will surely be gracious toward you. No one can doubt this, and no one can change it. If your motivations are not for the sake of obedience to God, and you have other aims, then all that you say and do—your prayers before God, and even your every action—will be in opposition to God. You may be soft-spoken and mild-mannered, your every action and expression may look right, you may appear to be one who obeys, but when it comes to your motivations and your views about faith in God, everything you do is in opposition to God, and evil. People who appear as obedient as sheep, but whose hearts harbor evil intentions, are wolves in sheep’s clothing, they directly offend God, and God will not spare a single one of them. The Holy Spirit will reveal every one of them, so all can see that every one of those who are hypocritical will be surely detested and rejected by the Holy Spirit. Don’t worry: God will deal with and resolve each of them in turn.
If you are unable to accept the new light of God, and cannot understand all that God does today, and do not seek it, or else doubt it, pass judgment on it, or study and analyze it, then you have no mind to obey. If, when the light of the here and now appears, you still treasure the light of yesterday and oppose God’s new work, then you are nothing more than a joke, you are one of those who deliberately oppose God. Key to obeying God is appreciating the new light, and being able to accept it and put it into practice. Only this is true obedience. Those who do not have the will to thirst for God are incapable of being of a mind to obey God, and can only oppose God as a result of their satisfaction with the status quo. That man cannot obey God is because he is possessed by what came before. The things that came before have given people all manner of conceptions and illusions about God that have become the image of God in their minds. Thus, what they believe in are their own conceptions, and the standards of their own imagination. If you measure the God who does actual work today against the God of your own imagination, then your faith comes from Satan, and is according to your own preferences—and God does not want faith such as this. Regardless of how lofty their credentials, and regardless of their dedication—even if they have devoted a lifetime of efforts to His work, and have martyred themselves—God does not approve of any with faith such as this. He merely shows them a little grace, and allows them to enjoy it for a time. People such as this are incapable of putting the truth into practice, the Holy Spirit does not work within them, and God will eliminate each of them in turn. Regardless of whether they are old or young, those who do not obey God in their faith and have the wrong motivations, are those who oppose and interrupt, and such people will unquestionably be eliminated by God. Those who are without the slightest obedience to God, who merely acknowledge God’s name, and have some sense of God’s dearness and loveliness yet do not keep pace with the steps of the Holy Spirit, and do not obey the present work and words of the Holy Spirit—such people live amid God’s grace, and will not be gained and made perfect by God. God makes people perfect through their obedience, through their eating, drinking, and enjoying of God’s words, and through the suffering and refinement in their lives. Only through faith such as this can people’s dispositions change, only then can they possess the true knowledge of God. Not being satisfied with living amid God’s graces, actively thirsting for the truth, and searching for the truth, and pursuing being gained by God—this is what it means to consciously obey God; this is precisely the kind of faith that God wants. People who do nothing more than enjoy God’s graces cannot be made perfect, or changed, and their obedience, piety, and love and patience are all superficial. Those who only enjoy God’s graces cannot truly know God, and even when they do know God, their knowledge is superficial, and they say things like God loves man, or God is compassionate toward man. This does not represent the life of man, and does not show that people truly know God. If, when God’s words refine them, or when His trials come upon them, people are unable to obey God—if, instead, they become doubtful, and fall down—then they are not in the least bit obedient. Within them, there are many rules and restrictions about faith in God, old experiences that are the result of many years of faith, or various doctrines based upon the Bible. Could people such as this obey God? These people are full of human things—how could they obey God? They all obey according to their personal preferences—could God wish for obedience such as this? This isn’t obeying God, but abiding by doctrine, it is satisfying and consoling yourself. If you say that this is obedience to God, do you not blaspheme against Him? You are an Egyptian Pharaoh, you commit evil, and you expressly engage in the work of opposing God—could God want service such as this? You’d best hurry up and repent and have some self-awareness. If not, you’d be better off going home: that would do more good for you than your service to God, you wouldn’t interrupt and disturb, you’d know your place, and live well—and wouldn’t that be better? That way you’d avoid opposing God and being punished!”
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After listening to this passage of the word of God, what truths do you understand? What is God saying in this passage of the word of God? What truths are being expressed? What requirements do they have for people? Can you see these things clearly? In this passage God expressed the truth regarding how to truly believe in God. Or more precisely, what does it mean to believe in God? “In Your Faith in God You Should Obey God.” So, believing in God is obeying God; it is submitting to the work of God. The ultimate goal which the work of God will achieve and accomplish is to make all those who believe in God able to truly submit themselves to God. This is the significance of belief in God. This passage of the word of God communicates the truth of believing in God. In these past several fellowships we have discussed the word “It Is Very Important to Establish a Normal Relationship With God.” We have finished discussing that aspect of the truth, so now we will discuss the word “In Your Faith in God You Should Obey God.” This truth is equally important. There are many who do not know the meaning of belief in God. They have a very shallow understanding of what it means to believe in God, and think that believing in God is merely admitting that there is a God. They think that if they just participate in a few religious activities, that is believing in God. Is this viewpoint correct?
Let us now read from the word of God, “Why do you believe in God? Most people are confounded by this question. They always have two entirely different viewpoints about the practical God and the God in heaven, which shows that they believe in God not in order to obey, but to receive certain benefits, or to escape the suffering of disaster. Only then are they somewhat obedient, but their obedience is conditional, it is for the sake of their own personal prospects, and forced upon them. So: why do you believe in God? If it is solely for the sake of your prospects, and your fate, then you’d best not believe. Belief such as this is self-deception, self-reassurance, and self-appreciation.” What kind of believer does God not praise? Isn’t it clear from the word of God? One kind are those who believe for the purpose of their prospects, their fate, and to be able to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Another type are those who believe for the purpose of escaping the suffering of disaster, so that they will not die during disasters. These two types of viewpoints are not praised by God. According to the word of God, this is not truly believing in God, these beliefs are “self-deception, self-reassurance, and self-appreciation.” Are these words of God correct? They are completely accurate. God speaks very clearly. Can we see what will be the ultimate outcome of those people who believe in God with the incorrect motivations and intentions? The ultimate outcome will be that each and every one of them will be eliminated. How can we explain these words “each and every one of them will be eliminated”? Their faith is in vain, and they will not achieve their purpose in the end. Some believe in order to escape the suffering of disaster, but disasters will befall them, and they will perish just the same. Some believe for their prospects and their fate, so that they will not descend to hell but rather ascend to heaven, but they will descend to hell just the same. So, for each and every one who believes in God with such wrong intentions, they must hurry to repent and make amends, and in their belief in God they must come to a clear understanding of God’s will. Do you not think that within religion there are many who believe in God for their prospects and their fate, in order to not descend to hell but rather ascend to heaven, in order to escape the suffering of disaster, in order to not die and continue existing whenever disasters befall them? There are many such people. This is something that we have spoken about. These people believe in the Lord to be able to eat their fill of loaves, but such belief is not approved by the Lord Jesus. There are many people who believe in the Lord in this way within religion, so the majority of people within religion will all be exterminated. Now you can see this clearly! It’s just as the Lord Jesus says, “for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matthew 23:15). How does one enter religion to only become a son of hell? God does not approve those people’s faith, their faith is in vain! They believe in God within religion, and there are religious pastors, elders and Pharisees that control the church and do not allow them to seek the true way. So, for people that believe in God within religion, if they are unable to break away from the control and constraint of the religious Pharisees, they will undoubtedly meet their demise! Now can you see this clearly? So nowadays, are there such people in the house of God who believe in God and act the same as those in religion, who in their hearts sincerely want blessings for their prospects and for their fate, and who long to enter the kingdom of heaven? Of course there are. What is the meaning of those people who do not pursue the truth even a bit but do not leave God’s house? Some antichrists are expelled but still practice their faith in secrecy, they do not leave God. Why is this? Some say that these are people who want to be blessed. Now you understand! There are many who have been expelled but still believe, so what are they thinking? “The church has expelled me, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that God has expelled me, so I will go on believing in God just like before. No one has the power to strip me of my belief in God.” When you hear this person’s thoughts, it seems as though they still really have some faith, but what kind of faith is it? It is a recognition, a recognition that God has become flesh, a recognition that what God expresses is the truth. However, in their faith in God, for so many years, they haven’t accepted truth in the slightest, nor have they pursued the truth in the slightest, which is why, there hasn’t been the slightest change to their life disposition—they are those of empty faith!
Let’s go back and read more from the word of God, “If your faith is not built upon the foundation of obedience to God, then you will ultimately be punished as a result of opposing God.” The meaning of these words is very clear, they say if someone’s faith is not built on a foundation of obedience to God, then he will ultimately be punished because of his resistance to God. From these words, what kind of disposition can we discern in God? One that is intolerant of offense! Regardless of who you are, so long as you resist God, what will be your outcome? You will inevitably be punished! Unbelievers that deny God will be destroyed by God; religious people that oppose God will be punished by God, and if they do not repent, if they stubbornly refuse to the last, they too shall be destroyed by God. From this we can see that for each and every member of the human race, for all people on earth, if they are not able to obey God, then ultimately they will be destroyed by God. Isn’t this the truth? These words make known the truth that “The disposition of God is intolerant of offense, and each and every one that opposes God will ultimately be destroyed.” Some say, “All of the words of God are the truth, so how can you say that?” Look at these lines, each of them is the truth. Some say, “I cannot tell that they are the truth. The words that are spoken are correct, but I do not know whether or not they are the truth.” How can we solve this? Think about whether or not these words will come true, whether or not they will be honored. If the word of God has come true, if it has been honored, it proves that all lines from the word of God are the truth. When looking at whether or not the word of God is the truth, what do you base it on? Are you clear now?
In the word of God it is said, “All those who do not seek obedience to God in their faith oppose God.” These words are very true. “All those who do not seek obedience to God in their faith oppose God.” What does it mean to seek obedience to God? It is to learn to seek the truth in all things. What is the purpose of seeking the truth? To become obedient to God. If people do not seek the truth in all things, they will not understand the truth, so will they be able to become obedient to God? Some people say no. Why can’t they become obedient to God? Because they do not understand the truth, there is no way for them to be obedient to God. We see many perform their duties, and even serve as leaders and workers. What are their principles? These people believe that whatever they think is right is the proper and correct way to act. Are these kinds of people obedient to God? They act however they please, in the way that they feel is proper. These are people that act according to their own notions, they are not people who are obedient to God. I have heard that in many church gatherings abroad there are places where only a handful of people gather together, maybe 2 or 3 or 4 people. As soon as I heard this I felt like something was wrong. I had previously arranged there should be at the very least around 10 people in gatherings abroad, because overseas they are not ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. Many countries abroad have freedom of religion. They have freedom of religion, so regardless of how many people gather together, it is always lawful. But mainland China is under the control of the CCP. Atheists hold the power. They do not allow you to believe in God, and if you practice your faith in God they will arrest you. They will capture you and persecute you. Because of this, it is stipulated by the house of God that only 2 or 3 or at the most a handful of people gather together. This is to guarantee their safety. Some people follow these rules and when they go abroad they still gather together in small groups like this. Are these people that understand the truth? What kind of people are these? They are people that follow the rules, they do not understand the spirit, they do not know what it means to handle things in a principled way. I said that in gatherings abroad there should be at least ten people or so, at the very bare minimum 7 or 8, because if 7 or 8 people gather together in one place to fellowship over the word of God, that is just right, and the fellowship will be quite enthusiastic. That’s because within a group of 7 or 8 people there will be at least 2 or 3 who understand the spirit and have experience. Let us assume for the moment that roughly half will understand the spirit, have experience, and love the truth, and roughly half will not love the truth. Among a group of believers, roughly half love the truth and are able to accept the truth, and roughly half do not. This way, in a group of 7 or 8 people, there should be at least 3 or 4 that understand the spirit and love the truth. So among those gathered, whenever these 3 or 4 people fellowship about the truth, they have much to say. It’s not a single person trapped in isolation trying to fellowship about the truth. At the very least, 2, 3 or 4 people will be able to fellowship about the truth, so the majority of people will be able to gain. If 2, 3 or 4 people gather together, at best there will be 1 or 2 that understand the spirit, but if they don’t have any experience, what will they be able to say during fellowship? Will people enjoy listening to them? If they are unable to talk about anything related to the spirit, if they are not able to shed any light on the word of God, will the gathering be enjoyable? There would be nothing to enjoy. So in gatherings abroad, it is best to have at least 7 or 8 people come together. A dozen would be even better, and twenty-something would also be allowable. Even if you get tens or hundreds of people together in large gatherings, it would be fine. Some leaders say, “I do not accept these words, I will not obey them.” What’s wrong with this? You cannot obey them? Do you want to control the church? Do you want to control God’s chosen people? Do you want God’s chosen people to gather only in the way you see fit? Do you want them all to hear the nonsense coming out of your mouth? Is this acceptable? What kind of leader is that? Is this a person that obeys God? This is the arrangement of God’s house, yet they dare to publicly resist, publicly oppose, and refuse to practice. Is this being obedient to God? These kinds of false leaders are scattered everywhere. God’s chosen people can unmask these false leaders and deal with them. What is it to believe in God but to not be able to obey God? This is to belong to Satan and devils, it is the same as being an unbeliever. God’s house does not allow the satanic to wield power. Believers must choose someone that obeys God as their leader, they cannot choose one who resists God. This you must understand!
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“All those who do not seek obedience to God in their faith oppose God.” So what does it mean to be a person who seeks obedience to God? We all will encounter things in our daily lives, or perhaps we will come across some difficulties while performing our duties, and as soon as these difficulties befall us, we may ask, “How can I be obedient to God through this? How can I carry this thing out in a way that conforms to the intention of God?” It is at this time that we are seeking obedience to God. What does it mean to seek obedience to God? It means seeking how we should do something in a way that is obedient to God, how to practice conforming to God’s intention, this is seeking obedience to God. To put it simply, seeking obedience to God is, as we often have talked about, to seek the truth in all things to have a path of practice. Let me give you an example. Say there is a boy who believes in God. His dad doesn’t permit him to believe in God, but his mom is a believer and permits him to believe in God. Who do you think he ought to obey? He might try to make a wild guess, “Dad won’t allow it if I obey Mom; Mom won’t allow it if I obey Dad,” but he won’t know what to do. Seek the truth! It doesn’t matter whether it’s your mom or your dad, whoever speaks in accordance with the truth is who you should obey, that is who you should listen to, that is what we call being obedient to God. Some people find partners that are not believers, and their partners don’t allow them to believe in God. They might think to themselves: “Should I be obedient to God or to my partner? If I am to be obedient to God I should break it off with my partner, we should break up. If I am to be obedient to my partner, I will keep away from God and then I will certainly perish, and after I die I will descend to hell. Whom then should I be obedient to?” For this you must seek the truth. You should obey whoever is able to save you. If you obey your partner will your partner be able to save you? Seek the truth in all things, this is what is meant by seeking obedience to God. What does one think about when seeking obedience to God? “How do I act in a way that is obedient to God? How do I carry out my actions in a way that conforms to God’s intentions?” To ponder over these things is what we call seeking obedience to God. Some people say: “Wow, time is pressing nowadays! Here I am toiling away to make money to fill my stomach, but as soon as the great disasters come life will cease to exist, what could possibly be more important than life? Right, I should hurry to believe in God; it is important that I seek the truth.” But when it comes to seeking the truth, you are busy all day long making money, it’s only in your little bit of spare time that you are able to practice your faith in God, but this is not much of an experience. After work when you get back home you are exhausted, and after eating dinner you can barely think, so you just go to bed. Are you really still able to practice your faith in God? Even though you go along believing you do not obtain much, your progress is very slow, right? I’ve experienced this myself. People have 10 hours of energy in a day. If most of that energy is used to make a living and feed yourself, it will be guaranteed that you have very little to gain in your faith in God; your progress will be slow, and there isn’t enough time!
To seek obedience to God is to seek the truth in every difficult situation you face and to try to grasp God’s intention, and after grasping it, to carry out your actions in accordance with God’s demands. This is being obedient to God. Sometimes someone introduces someone else to you as a potential partner, saying: “You’re all grown up, you ought to settle down and start a family, look at how great this person is, everything about them is great.” Whenever this happens to you, you feel confused and wonder to yourself, “Do I actually want to find a partner or not? If I find a partner then I would be really happy, and my life wouldn’t be in vain. However, if I’m looking for a partner my energy will all be spent on them, and I won’t have any energy to practice my faith to God, I will not be able to expend myself for God, I will only bring some joys to my flesh for a little while.” What consequences will there be if you look for a partner now? To look for a partner and indulge in pleasure will ruin you in the end! You will be forfeiting your future, right? But some people might reply: “It is natural to look for a partner, how could God’s family not allow people to search for partners?” God’s family allows people to search for partners, who said you aren’t allowed? That is each individual’s choice. Why is this something that each of you must choose? Because right now we are in an extraordinary time! The days of the great disasters are upon us, disasters will befall us at once. The time has arrived that determines people’s end and their destination. It is an extraordinary time! What is a fitting analogy for this extraordinary time? It is like wartime, when the fighting is very intense, does someone ask themselves if they should look for a partner? Is it appropriate to look for a partner when the fighting is really intense? That is not the time to look for a partner. Now is the most pressing time of the work of God. The most crucial and the most dangerous days are upon us. These are a part of the most dangerous days, it is an extraordinary time. To pursue the truth you must have energy, and you must have time! You must understand these things clearly! Practicing your faith in God isn’t a done deal whenever you just say the words, you aren’t able to be saved just by saying you believe in God! It requires energy, it requires time, and you must suffer many hardships and you must pay a price. So, we can say that looking for a partner who is not a believer is a burden, it’s the same as looking for a burden, or looking for a weight to carry. Isn’t that how it is? When you’re looking for a partner, if who you are pursuing is a non-believer, then that is a situation that could spell your doom! So, if these things befall us is it okay to not seek the truth? You see someone looking for a partner, and then they find someone who is really difficult to deal with and who watches over them very closely. They have no time for meetings, nor do they have the time to perform their duty and expend themselves for God. Their partner doesn’t let them do any of this and has a firm control over them. Wouldn’t you say that this person’s fate is really tragic? Then what would you say was this person ruined by? They were ruined by marriage and by family. Marriage and family, it’s okay to say these are good things, but it’s even more okay to say these are bad things, for they are able to ruin you for an entire lifetime. Now can you see this? Nowadays there are many brothers and sisters who are single, they are devoted to expending themselves for God, and everyday their lives are very happy and blessed, they don’t carry any burdens and they don’t have any worries about future consequences. They are progressing in life as fast as possible. This is not so for those people who have families. They have many burdens, they are very troubled, and they have no means of escape. You say you can’t just not go to work and make money, but who told you to go get married? You married and started a family, so now you must raise a family. You have to do your utmost for your wife’s life, for her flesh, to keep her fed, so you toil and you labor on and on without end. It’s a burden that you carry on your back, and it can push down on you for a whole lifetime. Isn’t that so? So is looking for a partner a good thing?
Is seeking the truth in all things a simple matter? It is not a simple matter. You must seek the truth in marriage, you must seek the truth in your treatment of the unbelievers, you must seek the truth in how you look upon the situation of the entire world and all of mankind. In addition, you must also seek the truth in how you treat your own family, in your physical relationship with your close relatives. But most importantly you must seek the truth in your performance of your duty, because only by performing your duty in an approved way can you be an approved creation. If your performance of your duty is not able to satisfy the demands of God, this will affect your being saved, as well as your outcome and destination. It is extremely important to seek the truth in all things! What result will we attain by seeking the truth in all things? First, it allows us to handle matters in a principled way; second, it allows us to get into the reality of the truth; third, it allows us to use the truth to solve all of the difficulties and problems we face; fourth, it allows us to come to an understanding of God, and to change our life disposition. Altogether there are four kinds of benefits, so seeking the truth in all things is the most important principle when it comes to practicing your faith in God. Do you understand? Everybody reflect on this question: Are you someone who seeks the truth in all things? In what things do you seek the truth? Do you try to grasp God’s intentions? Have you learned how to obey God? Do you have any of these kinds of experiential testimonies? Everyone who does have these kinds of experiential testimonies please raise your hand. We are not talking about seeking it through everything, just through some things. “When I seek the truth I really understand, God really enlightens me, and I can taste the sweetness of seeking the truth.” If you’ve had this kind of experience raise your hand. Look around, some people have raised their hands; this shows that some of you have started to enter the reality of the truth. But there are some people that will say: “I seek the truth in all things; some truths I obey, and then there are some that I understand but that I do not obey, I have not put them into practice.” Does this kind of thing happen? Not only does it happen, but it happens a lot. I too went through this. There were truths that I understood and practiced, but there were some that at the time I did not put into practice. At that time my stature was very small, so I didn’t do them, but after several years I have put them into practice. So, for some truths pertaining to life entry, you cannot put them into practice by trying just one or two times. For some truths, you will fail for several years, and only after having experienced them for several years will you finally succeed. For example, this is the experience I have gone through trying to be an honest person, I don’t know how many times I failed, but through my experience I have now gotten to a point where I basically don’t tell any lies, or at least I tell very few lies. If someone asks me: “Can you guarantee 100% that you absolutely will not tell a lie?” I cannot guarantee 100% that I will absolutely not tell a lie, but basically I don’t lie, just once in a while I wouldn’t go so far as to say I haven’t lied. What does this tell us? There are no perfect people, we are all imperfect, even after believing for 30 years I am still not perfect, this is the truth. But I pray to God, and I say: “Dear God, You must still cleanse me, to make me attain cleanliness that is thorough, and allow my life disposition to go through even better changes and transformations.” I am dissatisfied with my present self. Seeking the truth is endless, this is the truth! If someone is completely satisfied with themselves, if they dare say that they are fundamentally holy and pure, that they fundamentally tell no lies, that they fundamentally are not crooked or deceitful, that at most times they are able to obey God, and especially concerning the most important matters they are able to guarantee that they can obey God, then that is okay, then they have already been saved and perfected. Who dare say those who have been perfected are perfect people? One cannot rely on man’s conceptions and imaginations to look at being perfected, and say that those that have been perfected have become saints, that they are absolutely holy and pure, that they don’t even have one speck of filthy corruption, that they are completely cleansed. Is this the right kind of viewpoint to have? Remember, you cannot always rely on your conceptions and imaginations to look at things. That is not the truth. God’s demands on people are fair and reasonable, they are things that people can attain. God’s demands on people are not as high as people imagine them to be, nor are they as low as people imagine them to be. Religious people imagine God’s demands to be quite low, “It doesn’t matter what sins you commit, God will always forgive you. God is love.” Isn’t that very low? God’s demands are not as low as those religious people imagine them to be, nor are they as high as imagined by some of those among us. However, God’s demands are unconditionally the truth, they are fair and reasonable, and they can be attained through hard work and by paying a price.
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Let us continue communicating God’s words, “All those who do not seek obedience to God in their faith oppose God.” Let me give you an example. There are some people in God’s family that have believed for 10–20 years but you cannot see any changes to their life disposition. What is the issue here? Where is the root of this issue? These people do not seek obedience to God in all things and they do not seek the truth in all things. They still rely on their own notions and imaginations to do things. They still rely on Satan’s philosophies to live. For these kinds of people, even if they believed for 100 years, they will not obtain the truth, not to mention believing for 10–20 years. Why? Their way of believing in God is incorrect. They do not seek the truth. They do not search for the truth. Isn’t it over for them? They are muddleheaded and careless all day. They do not seek the truth in any matter. In whatever situation they encounter they think, “I will do this according to my own thoughts. If I think it is appropriate, that is how I will do it. If it benefits me to do it in a particular way, that is how I will do it. I will do it in whatever way that minimizes loss for myself.” Isn’t this living according to Satan’s philosophies? Many people’s principle when they do things is, “If I do it this way, will I take a loss? Is it advantageous for me to do it this way? Is it appropriate for me to do it this way?” Aren’t these Satan’s philosophies? If they live according to Satan’s philosophies, then they are not people that seek the truth. They live according to Satan’s philosophies and they do not seek the truth. Externally, it does not appear that they have committed any grave evil nor have they clearly committed evil in any way. However, they are not people that obey God. Isn’t this true? Right now, you can see that in God’s family, there are quite a few people that do not have the reality of the truth. However, they are also not wicked people. They have not committed any evil. Externally, they are good and guileless. These kinds of people, externally, they are good people. When people see such a person, they say, “This person is not bad. He truly believes in God.” Now, why is it that he has believed in God for many years, yet he does not have the reality of the truth? Externally, he hasn’t committed any evil. Why does God say that he is not someone who obeys God but he is instead someone that opposes God? In this matter, you must understand God’s will. Why does God say this? What would you say is the difference between living according to Satan’s philosophies and putting the truth into practice? Externally, you have not committed any sin. But putting the truth into practice is more correct. It is in accordance with God’s will, it is a good deed and it is witnessing. If you live according to Satan’s philosophies, you are only concerned about whether or not you have anything to gain and whether you are taking any loss. Externally, you have not committed any evil nor any sins. So, why does God not approve this kind of implementation? Why does God instead say that this is a person that opposes God? Some people say that this person is not someone that obeys God. So, what are we referring to when we talk about someone that truly obeys God? We are referring to someone who puts the truth into practice and conducts affairs according to principles. If you put God’s words into practice, if you put things into practice according to the truth of God’s words, then God will say that you are someone that obeys God. If you do not put things into practice according to God’s words, then you are living according to Satan’s philosophies. God would say that you are not someone that obeys God, rather you are someone that opposes God. Now, we have segued into something that the Lord Jesus said during the Age of Grace, “Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:21–23). Why would the Lord say that these people that have prophesied in His name, that have cast out devils in His name and have done many wonderful works in His name are not people that obey God’s will but are instead evil-doers? What is the reason for this? Even though they honor the Lord’s name when they do things, the things they do are evil because normally, they do not put the truth into practice. This type of people that experience God’s work presently also do not put the truth into practice. They do not put God’s words into practice and they only live according to Satan’s philosophies. So, regardless if you live according to Satan’s philosophies or you prophesy, cast out devils and do many wonderful works in the Lord’s name, God clearly says you are an evil-doer and that you oppose God. In this matter, if you do not seek the truth, then you will not have a path and it will not be easy for you to act in accordance with God’s will. Someone said, “Can God be so severe in His requirements for man?” This person is wrong. God’s words are the truth. Everything that God says must be honored and made real. The Lord Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33). This verse confirms the authority of God’s words! If you do not put things into practice according to God’s words, sooner or later, judgment and punishment will befall you. Can you accept this? If you see putting God’s words into practice as something that is not worthwhile or something to be disdained, then eventually, the person who will suffer is you!
Pertaining to the truth of believing in God, what does it mean to believe in God? Is this truth important? It is extremely important! If you do not grasp or understand this truth, then you will easily fail in believing in God! The people in the religious world are dreaming. What do they say? “God will not deny me. I spread the gospel, suffer and pay the price in the Lord’s name. Up till this day, I have not left the Lord. When the Lord comes, He will definitely bring me up to His kingdom.” They are dreaming. They will be flabbergasted the day when the Lord Jesus’ words befall them, “depart from me, you that work iniquity.” If someone dies, if a disaster befalls them and they die, would you say that this person will be able to go to heaven and sue the Lord? We all say that this person cannot. Why can’t this person do this? Religious people think that this can be done. They are preparing to sue the Lord, they want to go to the third heaven to sue Him. Would you say that the religious people are correct in their reasoning? We all know that they are not correct. What words confirm that they are not correct? Almighty God said, “Are you capable of delivering yourself to heaven to meet God on your own?” This sentence settles the matter. Can you go to heaven yourself? You can go try. You cannot even go up the height of an electric pole, right? If you die one day and you go to hell, would you be able to escape the burning lake in hell? Would you be able to leap out of the burning lake of hell? You even want to go to heaven and sue God? If you do not sincerely put things into practice according to God’s word, sooner or later, one day you will be cast into a place where you will be weeping and gnashing your teeth, you will be unable to object. Because God is the truth and you do not have the truth. God has spoken so clearly, if you do not follow His words, then you are just digging your own grave!
Let’s continue reading God’s words, “God asks that people seek the truth, that they thirst for God’s words, and eat and drink God’s words, and put them into practice, so that they may achieve obedience to God.” These words are the truth. Every word of God is the truth. This is amazing! There are a few aspects to God’s requirements for man’s implementation: First, people seek the truth; second, they thirst for God’s words; third, they eat and drink God’s words; and fourth, they put them into practice. God has these requirements for man. What is the purpose of this? The purpose is so that man can achieve obedience to God. He uses these requirements to train man, lead man and perfect man. If you can seek the truth in all things, thirst for God’s word in all things, eat and drink God’s word in all things and put God’s word into practice, gradually and unconsciously, you will understand the truth in all things. You will be able to rely on God’s word to live, accurately put God’s words into practice and act in harmony with God’s will. Once this result is achieved, you will be a person who obeys God. Now, is it easy to achieve obedience to God? Some people think it is not. In fact, it is easy. You can see that there are some people who have abandoned their family in order to fulfill their duties; they say, “God, let me fulfill whatever duty You want me to fulfill, I absolutely obey You.” Is there evidence here that they have put God’s words into practice? Do they have the intention to satisfy God? Yes. Therefore, if you can put some of God’s words into practice, then all you need to do is continue to seek. In the end, you will be able to achieve true obedience to God. Right now, there are some people who are compliant. Look at what happens when I deal with and prune them. They start reflecting on themselves in their heart. If they see that what they have done has in fact transgressed the truth and the principles, they repent and pray to God. They start crying and say, “I understand God’s intentions now. This is God dealing with me. God is dealing with me through the brother from above. This is from God. This is God’s love falling upon me. God! I see Your love. If You do not deal with me in this way, my life will grow too slowly. It will then be very difficult for me to be obtained by You and be perfected by You. Therefore, I must obey.” They choose to obey and not to complain. Some people, when they encounter dealings, they do not seek the truth. How do they pray to God? “God, I will obey You. I do not accept the way others deal with me. They are not the truth. Man cannot represent God. I will only obey God’s pruning and dealing.” These are two different kinds of people. Now, does the second kind of person obey God? We all say that he does not. There is a leader who has said, “I will not obey the arrangement of God’s family. They want us to gather in groups of 7 or 8. I will not obey. I will not accept. I will gather any number of people for meetings as I see fit. I will not listen to God’s family!” What kind of person is this? This is someone who opposes God. Now, how does God’s family deal with this kind of person? Did God appoint you as a leader? God did not appoint you, it was arranged by God’s family. If you do not follow the arrangements of God’s family, then God’s family has no use for you. You are a demon. Does a demon have the qualification to say these things: “I will not obey”? Whoever says these disobedient things is a demon! Why can’t you obey? Do you know yourself? If you dare say these things, then you overestimate your abilities! I will kick you out and that will be the end of that. I have no use for you. God’s family does not need your obedience. Get lost! Get lost immediately! Is it appropriate to say it like this? This is how you talk to demons and Satan. This is not how you talk to good people with transgressions. You talk to these people with a loving heart. This is how you talk to demons and Satan because people who say these things are demons and Satan. They are definitely not good people. Such a person does not have any sense. You actually said you could not obey, then what kind of person are you? Who let you become a leader? Was it God’s family that appointed you as a leader? God’s family will not acknowledge you. Who appointed you? I must pluck this person out, this person is a demon. If a false leader appointed you, that does not count. God’s family will officially abandon you and even abandon your master. See if God’s family has this power to end you with one sentence. If you sincerely seek the truth, you will not encounter this. Instead, you will encounter God’s blessing. God will bless you. If you are a demon or Satan, and you obstinately resist God’s family, God’s family will not be polite with you and will answer you in this way.
Let’s continue communicating God’s word, “so that they may achieve obedience to God.” All of our spiritual training, such as seeking the truth in all things, what is the final goal? It is to achieve obedience to God and in the end, be perfected by God into someone who truly obeys God. Today we can have a little bit of obedience to God. Tomorrow, we can also have a little obedience to God. The things we obey God in will gradually become more and more. In the end, we will be able to obey God in all things and we will be able to put the truth into practice. Now, this is a person that obeys God. This is how obedience to God is achieved. Therefore, a man who seeks the truth and who thirsts for the truth, this kind of man’s obedience to God grows more and more until it reaches a point where he becomes a man that obeys God. Isn’t this the case? You can see that there are people who obey God when they undergo dealing and pruning. This indicates a certain amount of spiritual stature. The majority of people that undergo dealing and pruning are persistently negative. They can be described with one word—negative. There is no other word. They are negative! They identify clearly with negativity. They believe that the best performance is negativity. If they are not negative, then it shows that they lack any sense. That is why they think their negativity is very reasonable. Some people, when they undergo dealing, are not only negative but they also develop a psychology of betrayal. What is a psychology of betrayal? “I am fulfilling my duties yet you still deal with me. Who would be willing to fulfill these duties? I am not going to fulfill these duties. Whoever wants to fulfill these duties can fulfill them!” What kind of words are these? These are words of betrayal! Once these words of betrayal come out, do you know what the consequence will be? Satan will be on the side clapping continuously and laughing. “How is it? Look, God, this is one of Your chosen people. He has betrayed You! Oh, once he went through dealing, then he betrayed You.” Remember, once this kind of words of betrayal come out of your mouth, then you are no longer bearing witness. Instead, you are humiliating God. God will secretly remember your words, He will record them in the book of life. If you can say these words of betrayal, then this is a loss for you! Do you understand? These words will be examined in the spiritual world! God will examine them, and Satan will also hear them. The whole spiritual world will be watching you! Once such serious words come out of your mouth, it is extremely grave. It does not matter if it was in the Age of Grace or it is in the Age of Kingdom, God’s words indicate that He examines the bottom of people’s hearts. God did say these things. There is also something else that He said, “That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matthew 12:36). That is why any person who is able to say these words of betrayal will suffer a loss. There are some people who have been captured by the great red dragon. Once they experience interrogation and torture, they cannot take it. They sell out and deny God. This is taking a loss. Some of these people’s humanity is very good, so God’s family does not expel them and they are given another chance. If God does indeed give them another chance, it is okay. However, I do not dare say that it is God that gives them another chance. It is only God’s family that has given them another chance. Whether or not God has decisions on this, I do not know. This situation, I do not dare say whether or not it originates from God. That is why I say, if you do not seek the truth in whatever situation you encounter, God will not acknowledge you as a person that obeys God. If you are able to say words of betrayal, then you will surely take a loss. Getting caught by the great red dragon, signing a letter of repentance and saying unbelieving things is a very serious situation. I do not know what the end result of this situation would be. Anyway, for some people, their outcome has been determined, and they will definitely be eliminated; but for those whose situation is not as serious, I do not know what their end will be. It’s best not to talk about it.
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Let’s continue communicating. “If your motivations are truly thus, then God will surely raise you up, and will surely be gracious toward you. No one can doubt this.” If man is truly motivated to obey God, seek the truth, thirst for God’s words, eat and drink God’s words and put God’s words into practice, then God will raise him up! “Then God will surely raise you up and will surely be gracious toward you.” Have we experienced the way in which God raises us up and treats us with grace? Sometimes God raises us up and gives us the opportunity to perform some duties. He treats us with grace when He puts us in important positions to fulfill duties. He allows us to be people with responsibilities, group leaders, people who take the initiative and people who take the lead. This is God raising us up and treating us with grace. Another way of saying this is that God lets us encounter bigger environments, obtain the truth, experience deeper breaking and greater discipline, obtain more truth and obey Him more. These are all examples of God raising us up and treating us with grace. Does everyone understand what I said? Are there any people who think like this, “If the duties I fulfill are more and more important, don’t I have to endure more and more dealings? Isn’t the bitterness that I have to suffer even greater?” Are there people who think these thoughts? There are definitely people who think like this. What kind of people think like this? People who do not love the truth think like this. They are not willing to suffer! Look, what kind of sayings are popular in some churches? “Do not become a leader! If you become a leader and later you are eliminated, you would not even have the qualifications to be one of the chosen people. At this point, it is completely over.” It is these types of antichrist, satanic remarks that are popular. Nobody spreads the maxims of experiencing God’s words and obtaining an understanding of the truth. Nobody will talk about these things. What does spreading these fallacious antichrist words indicate? The atmosphere of this church is unhealthy. The antichrists and false leaders are in power. That is why I arrange for God’s chosen people in each church to quickly expose leaders and workers. It doesn’t matter which worker or leader, if they say incorrect things, spread fallacies or do evil things, then they must be exposed without delay. I ask the churches to have a democratic election. You get to vote for leaders and workers. However, some churches do not implement this. They deceive God’s family knowingly. How do they implement this? “Everybody, let’s vote!” When they vote, they get rid of anyone who does not benefit themselves. Only a few people remain, “Vote for these few people.” After the voting is done, they announce those that they are interested in. If someone who they are not interested in is elected, they burn up the ballot and announce that someone else got elected. This is how the deceit is committed. They are even more malicious than the great red dragon! This is how some churches elect leaders. Afterward, the leaders withhold all the letters of accusation written by God’s chosen people who exposed the leaders and workers. I do not even know about one incident, not even one reaches me here. These churches are controlled so stringently by false leaders that not even a pin can be inserted. They are impenetrable. If someone wants to put their hand in, they cannot. A few people I know have given me a report on the circumstances. I talked with the workers and the leaders, “Look, these problems still exist in the church. You have to resolve them quickly.” They said, sure. What did they do when they went back? “Who gave the report? Find out who gave this report! There is definitely someone who divulged our secrets.” First, they tried to find out whoever gave the report, whoever was the snitch, whoever talked to the above, they tried to find them out first. They did not resolve the problem according to what I said. First, they tried to find out whoever gave the report. In the end, they isolated the people that reported to me, and they did not let them participate in meetings. This is how they resolved the issue. What do you think of this kind of leader? Some people say this is an antichrist. There are quite a lot of these kinds of leaders. Now this church keeps any person that knows me or whom I have promoted at a distance and does not dare come in contact with them. There is someone who publicly said, “I am not afraid of your report. You can report me to the above! I am not afraid!” The person who said this is not a new believer. Perhaps he has believed for five or six years and he said these things. What do you think of the things he said? Right now, such people are afraid of other people reporting them. What do you think of these people who are scared of others reporting them? Some people say that they have something on their conscience. This saying is very appropriate, “have something on one’s conscience.” If your path is straight and proper, would you be afraid of a report? If someone is crooked and improper, if they do not follow the truth, shouldn’t they be reported? We all say they should. Why would you say that being reported is a good thing? If you are reported, this indicates God’s love. God’s love has come upon you. Isn’t this the case? If you have been reported, and encounter pruning and dealing later on, isn’t it a good opportunity to seek the truth? Previously, you would not take the initiative to seek. Since you are now reported, you should accept the truth and learn how to obey the truth. Once you accept the truth and obey the truth, then this situation will be resolved. Isn’t this the case? Look, have you ever seen a situation where God’s family has something on someone and does not let it go? Which person does God’s family expel just because they exposed their corruption? Nobody. No one will be expelled for exposing their own corruption. People get expelled because their evil deeds are many and varied. Those who do many different evil things and arouse public anger will be expelled. No one will investigate those who expose their own corruption. Isn’t this the case?
When I prune and deal with some workers and leaders, the words I use are very severe. They accept it, feel remorse and snivel. After a while, they understand themselves, have true repentance, are not negative and do not shirk their responsibilities. When I see this, I would say that this kind of person has some spiritual stature. Not bad. This person should be cultivated, this is a person that seeks the truth. For most people, I find out what their issues are and then I will deal with them in order to reveal them. I need to see just what kind of people they are. After I deal with them, once I see them seek the truth, once I see that they can truly accept the truth, then my heart understands. I have an understanding of who they are. If they do not accept the truth at all, I can see through them. I would say that they are not worth cultivating. They do not accept the truth one bit. God’s family will not cultivate this kind of people. If they can handle the experience of dealing and pruning and grow gradually during the process of dealing and pruning and develop a heart that obeys God, then they are people that God will perfect. Isn’t dealing and pruning the most effective way of revealing people? The false leaders of some churches seal off their church very tightly. When they encounter someone who reports on the situations in their church, they will inquire as to who reported on these situations and try to find out that person. A certain type of atmosphere starts to form in the church. Everybody starts to hate the person who made the report. They start distancing themselves from the person who made the report as if they were fleeing the plague. Would you say that they are people that truly love the truth? I feel that those who truly love the truth will proactively accept God’s examination. They would exhibit the things that they do for all to see and let everybody communicate the truth with them. They are frank and honorable, innocent and open. This is someone that loves the truth. Some people are not simple and candid, and they are very secretive and cover up all the evil things they do; they wrap them up in layers and do not let anyone else know about them or report them. Can these things be hidden? They cannot be hidden. Sooner or later, one day they will be exposed. I see some workers and leaders who do not have the Holy Spirit’s work. They are hypocrites. They pompously speak of high-sounding letters and doctrines. They sound better than anyone else but behind our backs they do not put any of the truth into practice. I feel disgusted when I see these kinds of people. They stand at the pulpit and boast shamelessly. They loudly bear witness for God and they talk about their letters and doctrines. When I see this, I know it is over for this kind of person. They say rebellious things about God behind everyone’s back. Once you hear it, you would become angry. They said, “Go report, I am not afraid of you!” The person who made the report, what kind of person are they? This is someone who cares about God’s intentions. This is not someone who makes an issue of people’s expression of corruption. They are letting God’s family know about the existence of this issue in the church, the evil acts of workers and leaders and the proof that these people have been walking on the antichrist’s path. Are they letting God’s family know about the corruption that somebody exposes behind people’s backs, or the lies somebody tells, or the fact that somebody does not maintain normal relationships with others behind people’s backs? Who would report about this? God’s family would not listen to this. People already know this is the exposure of an individual’s corruption. Nobody focuses on this. What is being reported are major issues, issues pertaining to false leaders and antichrists, God’s chosen people being led astray, serious interruptions to the work of God’s family and things that affect the shooting of movies. Can these issues not be reported? Shouldn’t these practical issues be reported? Shouldn’t someone make these things known? However, in this church, no one makes these issues known. Half a year has passed and the movie has still not been finished. This is not reported. Nobody reveals the false leaders who are doing these things. In the end, there is no other recourse. The two people that I knew were isolated. A new person came and I said, “Let me understand what is going on. Let me see what the situation is like.” Once they got to the church and took a look, oh wow, they found so many issues! Once they reported back, I communicated with the workers and leaders and touched upon this matter. This caused some trouble. The few people who made these issues known suffered because everyone else surrounded and attacked them! “Oh.” I said, “Do these people want to start a revolt? I am very capable of dealing with revolts. These matters are very easy for me to deal with.” They wanted to revolt, so I said, “Tell God’s chosen people in this church: Starting from today, expose the leaders and workers! Thoroughly expose them! Whichever worker or leader dares to resist or suppress this, I will immediately expel them! This should be implemented immediately. Let’s see who will want to try and revolt. If there are 10 people who revolt, then I will expel 10 of them. If there are 100, I will expel 100! These matters are very easy to deal with. I can expel an entire church with one sentence.” How do I go about expelling an entire church? If an entire church starts to revolt, if they all talk in favor of the antichrist and stand on the side of the antichrist, in this situation, I will ask them to raise their hands and declare which side they are on, “Is there anyone who can discern the antichrist? Is there anyone who stands on the side of God’s family?” If everyone says no, I will say: Fine, I am declaring that this church is officially expelled. God’s family will not recognize this church. This church is not permitted to listen to sermons. They should go away. I will dismiss them. They can believe whatever they want. God’s family does not recognize them! Is this a good way to deal with this? Actually, I do not want to deal with it this way. They have forced God’s family to a point where nothing else can be done. This is the only way to deal with it. If you think that what I say is incorrect and you do not want to follow God’s family, fine. Communicate the truth to me. You do not want to communicate the truth and you still do not obey the arrangements of God’s family. I let you gather in groups of at least seven or eight people, but you said, “I do not obey, I will not accept!” Who do you say these things to? Do you have the qualifications to say these things? If you do not accept, then who do you think you are? Does the church belong to you? Does God’s chosen people belong to you? Do you want to control the church? Do you want to control God’s chosen people? You belong to Satan the devil. If you do not obey, and yet you say, “I resign from my position,” at least this shows that you have some sense. If you want to control the church, you would not even have a chance! I will kick you out! It is this simple. You believe in God but you do not obey God. You just want to hinder the progress of God’s family. Do you think that you are in society? Do you think you are in the outside world? The outside world is where all sorts of demons and Satan run amok. All kinds of people run wild around there. They follow their own intentions when doing things, they do whatever they please. In God’s family, the truth wields the power. God wields the power. He definitely does not permit any demons or Satan to run amok in God’s family! You want to start a revolt in God’s family? Then you must want to court disaster. Does God’s family have administrative decrees? What is proclaimed in the administrative decrees during the Age of Kingdom? Do you dare act against the kingdom’s administrative decrees? If you do, then you are looking to die! If you do not want to enter the kingdom of heaven or obtain everlasting life, well, you can try. God’s family is not even afraid of the evil satanic forces of the great red dragon, the CCP government. Why would God’s family be afraid of a little demon such as yourself?
Right now, the majority of God’s chosen people love the truth. I can see that the more clearly I have communicated the truth, the stronger God’s chosen people from various regions are. Their strength is getting greater and greater. They are truly able to abandon everything and spend for God. This is already a beautiful form of witnessing. Even the great red dragon recognizes this. This is a fact. However, in the church, there are still one or two people who do not love the truth running amok. They spread all kinds of fallacies and tell satanic lies. Once God’s chosen people are aware of and expose these kinds of people, that will be their last day and they will be expelled. Do you understand this? Some new believers, after believing for half a year to a year, have revealed some corruption. This is very normal. God’s family does not investigate this. What kinds of people is God’s family tolerant of? If a person has a good humanity and a true faith in God, then no matter what kind of corruption they reveal, God will take pity on them and God’s family will be tolerant of them. We should help them with a loving heart. In regard to those who believe in God for many years yet do not accept any of the truth and still say words of betrayal and rebellion, these people do not have any humanity. They interrupt and disturb God’s work. God’s family must deal with them; they will not be let off lightly! In the past, we often said that in God’s family, the truth is in power. God’s chosen people all saw testimony and facts that confirmed that truth is in power. Since you know that truth is in power, would God’s family permit Satan to run amok in God’s family? Absolutely not! If you truly believe in God and love the truth, and you have transgressions and have some corruption exposed, God’s family would not investigate you at all. If you dare antagonize God’s family and run amok behind their back, God’s family would find you out and would not let you off lightly! In terms of expelling people, for God’s family, this would not be the first time. These past 20 years, there have been at least 500,000 that have been expelled. If you look at the denominations, which ones have 500,000 members? There are only a few with 10,000 to 20,000. 2,000 to 3,000 is considered a big church. Now, the number of people that God’s family has expelled is how many times greater? God’s family does not accept these bad eggs, all sorts of bad people. There are all sorts of people in the religions. They take all sorts of repulsive and bad people. Why is this? It is so they can collect money from them. It benefits these pastors and elders.
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Let’s go on reading God’s word: “If your motivations are not for the sake of obedience to God, and you have other aims, then all that you say and do—your prayers before God, and even your every action—will be in opposition to God. You may be soft-spoken and mild-mannered, your every action and expression may look right, you may appear to be one who obeys, but when it comes to your motivations and your views about faith in God, everything you do is in opposition to God, and evil.” God’s words are the truth. Each sentence conveys a facet of the truth, all the way from the first word to the last. These words of God are clearly spoken. Some people are soft-spoken and mild-mannered, and their every action and expression might seem right to others, and they might seem to be obedient to God, yet God’s word says, “but when it comes to your motivations and your views about faith in God, everything you do is in opposition to God, and evil.” In the eyes of God, these people are all evil-doers. On what basis does God determine that a person’s actions are evil? Does He base His reasoning on whether or not a person appears soft-spoken and mild-mannered? Does He judge whether a person’s behaviors are evil based on what people can see from the outside? Of course not. God makes His decision based on a person’s motivations and his views about faith in God! God’s word is the truth. Does this make sense now? People in the religious world think that they preach, cast out demons, and perform many miracles all in the name of the Lord. When these people seek rewards from the Lord, what will the Lord say to them? “I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:23). Some say, “How could the Lord brand them as evil-doers? How could preaching and casting out demons in the name of the Lord be evil? How could performing many miracles in the Lord’s name be evil?” These people are evil-doers not because of their deeds, but mainly because they never carry out God’s word and never practice the truth. If their motivations behind these good deeds—preaching and casting out demons and performing miracles in the Lord’s name—are wrong, if they only act in order to elevate and aggrandize themselves, then their deeds are evil deeds. If you act in order to exalt and glorify God, then your deeds will be virtuous. But if you act to exalt man, take advantage of God’s name, and act in God’s name while building glory and fame for yourself so that people will worship and adore you, then even deeds that appear good on the outside will be evil deeds. God examines man’s motivations! Does God brand deeds as evil on the basis of how they appear from the outside? No. On what basis, then? God brands evil doers according to their motivations and their views about faith in God. Without the truth, you won’t be able to understand this clearly, isn’t that so? Religious people don’t understand these words. They ask, “How could it be? How could this be the case?” Though they have no understanding, they still don’t deny the name of the Lord! What great faith in God they must have! From the outside their faith seems great, but they don’t understand the Lord! They don’t know the Lord or understand His will, and ultimately they will be branded an evil-doer! Is it okay to believe in God without seeking the truth? This is called walking the path blindly with your eyes wide open! Are people who do this smart? You know, these religious pastors and elders are all well-educated and highly cultivated. They’re educated, cultivated, eloquent, good-looking—so how could they possibly be evil-doers who oppose God? How could this be? Who can tell me? Could God be biased against them? Could God be treating them unfairly? How should we look at this matter? When you look at a person, you shouldn’t look at their external appearance. When you look at their appearance, you’ll see that they are amicable, classy, educated and eloquent. So how is it that they do not possess the work of the Holy Spirit? How could God have no use for them? What’s going on here? God examines the depths of a person’s heart and determines it based on whether or not they love the truth by nature and in essence. Some people will appear to be grand and magnificent, they are eloquent, educated, and cultivated. Why don’t they pursue the truth? When Almighty God came He expressed so much truth and spoke so many words. Why don’t they carefully read Almighty God’s word? I don’t believe that with all their education and cultivation, they are still unable to see that the words of Almighty God are the truth. They must be able to see this. If they can see this, then why can’t they accept it? Who can tell me what the secret is? Our brothers and sisters who are new believers, why don’t you tell us what you think? Some say that people like this are too arrogant. Arrogance is part of it. Anyone else? Some say that they only believe in God according to their own ideas, and decide what God must be like according to what they believed before. These people do not know or understand God. The correct view has been given with regard to this. This phenomenon fulfills the words of God that we just read. “All those who do not seek obedience to God in their faith oppose God.” These people do not seek the truth in all matters, they do not obey the truth, and even though they hear the truth in Almighty God’s words, they still disobey. And so, they are eliminated. Doesn’t this reveal God’s righteousness? The majority of religious pastors have graduated with theology degrees, and they meet the university standards for education and quality. They’ve got a good head on their shoulders, so how could they still be eliminated? In the eyes of man, aren’t they rather pitiful? Before, I too used to adore them. Once, some pastors came into God’s family, pastors with college diplomas and experience as teachers. “Oh wow,” I said, “This is true talent! We must cultivate their talent immediately!” And so I promoted them. After I promoted them, I trained them, and then I encountered a problem: Not one among them truly sought the truth. They were merely concerned with rhetoric, reasoning, and spiritual theory; they didn’t practice the truth at all! In addition, there were a few other highly educated people, who were laymen and did not understand the spirit. No matter how people fellowshiped with them, they just couldn’t understand, they did not understand the spirit. Some of them were extremely crafty. After giving them a position, they all became antichrists in the end. They established fame for themselves without bearing witness for God, and even wanted to kick me out and shut the door so they could seize power and reign over the church! You think this kind of person should be pitied? This kind of person shouldn’t be pitied: They’re treacherous and deceitful! The wheels are turning in their head way too fast. The average honest person can’t keep up with them! Later I came to understand: It is not a good thing that these intellectuals are so highly cultured. For one thing, intellectuals do not understand the spirit, and secondly, they don’t practice the truth. They’re too cunning. It’s not easy for God to perfect someone like this. It’s not easy at all. Since then, God’s family has never again sought to train people according to those standards. Instead, we train whoever seeks the truth, regardless of whether they are man or woman, young or old. Whoever is the best at practicing the truth will be cultivated and promoted. Isn’t this a good principle? We arrived at this conclusion through bitter lessons. We can’t promote people merely on the basis of their education and caliber. Rather, we must do so on the basis of who loves the truth, and who is best at carrying out the truth. This is the best principle, the principle that accords the most with God’s will.
Let’s continue reading God’s word: “People who appear as obedient as sheep, but whose hearts harbor evil intentions, are wolves in sheep’s clothing, they directly offend God, and God will not spare a single one of them. The Holy Spirit will reveal every one of them, so all can see that every one of those who are hypocritical will be surely detested and rejected by the Holy Spirit. Don’t worry: God will deal with and resolve each of them in turn.” Don’t worry, everyone! God will deal with and dispose of each of them. When some new believers enter the church, they encounter false leaders and antichrists. In the beginning, they can’t discern them, but after a while, they will eventually be able to do so. Then they will say, “Oh my! According to God’s word, this person is a false leader, a wolf in sheep’s clothing. How is it that God’s family has not dealt with him yet?” It’s not that God’s family does not deal with him. Rather, this wolf in sheep’s clothing has come to perform service, and to serve as a foil. When God’s chosen people are thoroughly awakened to the truth, are truly able to discern and expose them, God’s family will deal with them, and then will come their end days. How can God’s family deal with the false leaders when God’s chosen people have yet to awaken to the truth and expose them? To be honest, I don’t know what evil deeds these people have done. If I knew, could I really not deal with them? When you expose them, then I’ll know. Some say, “God knows everything.” I’m just a human being: The person leading the church, the person in charge of all work is a person! God doesn’t work supernaturally through me. God doesn’t make revelations to me, saying, “That person’s an antichrist! That one’s a false leader!” God doesn’t make revelations like this. God merely allows me to look, to observe, and He reveals them through certain circumstances and human affairs, and makes them known in this manner. Once they have been revealed, I’ll see it, and I must deal with them. This is the process. And so, when God’s chosen people all awaken to the truth and expose them, their last days will have come. Know this. Right now, the last days for the antichrists and false leaders has come, and God’s chosen people have begun to expose them. After they are exposed, according to these facts, they will be determined to be false leaders, antichrists, or wicked people, and then God’s family will deal with them accordingly, giving God’s chosen people a satisfactory reply. God has His time for all things. You see the wicked men do their utmost to cause disturbance and do as they do, but when the time comes, they will be finished. When the antichrists, the wicked and the false leaders have been dealt with, the church life of God’s chosen people will be much more peaceful and enjoyable, no?
Every district has antichrists and wicked people, and they are just beginning to be disposed of thoroughly. Every overseas district must hear this clearly. Each district’s decision-making group must hurry to mobilize God’s chosen people to expose the false leaders and antichrists. The leaders and workers who seek the truth but betray corruption should not be investigated. So long as they can do practical work, so long as they do not violate the work arrangement, God’s chosen people ought to respect them and work in concert with them. When it comes to false leaders and antichrists, don’t be kind, don’t be lenient, and don’t even let a single one get away. All those who restrict God’s chosen people and keep them from exposing the false leaders or workers are certainly false leaders and antichrists themselves. Those who won’t allow God’s chosen people to oppose these leaders are certainly antichrists themselves. Those who are always clutching God’s chosen people by the throat and will not let them speak are certainly false leaders or antichrists. There’s nothing good about them! Those who give God’s chosen people freedom are certainly people of humanity. They are good leaders. Those who can lead God’s chosen people into the reality of the truth are true leaders after God’s heart. They are precisely the people that God will perfect. Know this. Every place needs to expose the false leaders and antichrists. If the leaders and workers restrict God’s chosen people from exposing the false leaders and antichrists, they must be unmasked, quickly dealt with, and expelled. Why must we deal with these people? God’s word says: “People who appear as obedient as sheep, but whose hearts harbor evil intentions, are wolves in sheep’s clothing, they directly offend God, and God will not spare a single one of them. The Holy Spirit will reveal every one of them, so all can see that every one of those who are hypocritical will be surely detested and rejected by the Holy Spirit. Don’t worry: God will deal with and resolve each of them in turn.” When God says, “Don’t worry,” He means God has His time for all things. Why does God say, “God will not spare a single one of them,” and then say “The Holy Spirit will reveal every one of them”? What does this mean? Doesn’t it mean that the Holy Spirit rules over all things? “The Holy Spirit will reveal every one of them.” This part is very important! If you are able to see and understand God’s actions, you’d better notice the movement of the Holy Spirit’s work. God’s work will immediately come to a conclusion. The Holy Spirit will take these wolves in sheep’s clothing who are hypocritical and expose them. How will He expose them? He will expose them through their wicked deeds. God’s chosen people will come to realize who they really are. And the Holy Spirit will raise people up, He will move people into informing them, bringing them into the light. All who are touched by the Holy Spirit and are able to expose the false leaders and antichrist are the people who are loved by God, they belong to Christ’s elite army! God will perfect this kind of person. But as for the people who play the nice guy, people who don’t dare to oppose the false leaders and antichrists—God does not love these people, and He will not perfect them. Now the Holy Spirit is doing the work, the work of exposing people. When He has finished exposing all people, when He has exposed and eliminated the wicked people, antichrists, and those who are hypocritical, the great disaster will arrive. Once the great disaster arrives, God will reward the good and punish the wicked, and the wicked people will all perish! The antichrists and false leaders must be punished, and they must perish. Know this.
Someone once said: “Even if an antichrist or false leader believed in God for their entire lives, must they die because they opposed God? He’s still done some good things, and done some service.” What’s the matter with this statement? The false leader or antichrist offended God’s disposition, and he obstructed God’s work. This is the kind of person he is; God doesn’t care about how much service he’s done. People like Paul have done quite a lot of work, but everything that they did was merely service, not worthy of God’s commemoration. And so they must suffer punishment. God’s disposition is not allowed to be offended! If you are a service-doer, and you don’t offend God’s disposition, and you’re able to maintain your good faith and devotion all the way until the end, then you will be considered a loyal service-doer and can survive. But if you offend God’s disposition, God will not let it slip past Him. Those who offend God’s disposition are those who oppose God and commit many evil deeds. God will surely punish them, and no one can change that. And so every overseas district must implement an exposure of false leaders and antichrists and then deal with those who have done many evil deeds. We won’t let them get away with it! If someone hasn’t committed many evil deeds, treat them leniently, and give them the chance to repent. Those who’ve done many evil deeds must be dealt with firmly and expelled! You should know it is not like in the world or in religion where no matter how people cause chaos or how Satan disturbs, nobody is serious about it, where there is no such things as expelling people. God’s family is different! When God’s work is complete, it will be the time to decide man’s outcome, God will reward the good and punish the wicked, and He will give each person a reply. God will finish the work that He started. Within the religion, belief in God has no beginning or end. It doesn’t matter what time you start believing, or for how long. You just believe in a muddled way until you fall into disaster in the end. This is not part of God’s work, and He does not claim responsibility for it. Some antichrists and false leaders will say: “Alas! Even while doing work for God’s family, we can still be branded ‘false leaders’ and ‘antichrists’ and be driven out. In that case I’ll go to the religion and profess my faith.” If you go to the religion, that’s just fine, the religion will welcome you. If you go there you can even become a good person, and everyone will adore you because you preach the doctrine well, better than the pastors and elders, and you will become an object of adoration for everyone. You will eat fancy food there. Who here wants to go to become followers of the religion? As soon as I talk about becoming a follower of the religion, no one wants to go, you’re all shaking your heads. You’ve seen that God’s family has expelled so many antichrists and false leaders, and none of them wants to go to the religion. What a strange thing, no one wants to go to the religion, what does this tell us? That these people are not foolish in the least bit, and they are much smarter than all of the pastors and elders in the religion. But they do not pursue the truth. If you go to the religion and erect your own solitary kingdom, no one will deal with you. If you seek to build your own solitary kingdom in God’s family, this is a blind and foolish action. If you act one way in public and another in private, if you manifest outward devotion but oppose in secret, if your mouth says yes but your heart says no, isn’t this what it means to be an antichrist?
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“In Your Faith in God You Should Obey God.” Every believer in God must possess this sense. If a believer doesn’t obey God, it is their greatest failure, as well as their greatest disgrace. You must understand this! What goal do you aim to achieve through examining yourself daily? You must look and see whether or not you are a person who genuinely obeys God, whether or not you have been transformed in this way and have attained the reality of obedience. If you don’t obey the man used by God, then you will be a far cry away from obeying God. This is the most basic thing for you to put into practice, for God’s administrative decree has thus prescribed. Some antichrists say, “I have faith in God, and so I’ll just listen to Him directly. I won’t obey the man used by the Holy Spirit. You think you can preach? I’ll pick up God’s word and preach, and I bet I won’t be any worse than you! This is how I practice faith. We’ll see if I can enter the kingdom of heaven or not!” This is the voice of the antichrist, the words of Satan. Will anyone who speaks like this be able to enter the kingdom of heaven? Some say no. Why not? This relates to the passage we read from God’s word today. What is the topic of the passage? “In Your Faith in God You Should Obey God.” This man has believed in God for many years, and not only has he yet to obey God, on the contrary, he’s become an antichrist! Will he be able to enter the kingdom of heaven? How could this person possibly enter the kingdom of heaven? This kind of person wants to enter the kingdom of heaven, but Heaven will not tolerate it! Can anyone who wants to enter the kingdom of heaven do so? You must look for the answer in God’s word. If you’ve believed in God for many years and you’ve really been transformed in your life disposition, how can you prove this? It isn’t enough to merely do good deeds; you must be a person who truly obeys God. In this way, you will be qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven. Only those who truly obey God will be able to enter the kingdom of heaven. Which of the Lord Jesus’ words does this fulfill? “… but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). The above is a fulfillment of this verse. Those who truly obey God follow the will of the heavenly Father, and only such people will be qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven. All the words from the three stages of God’s work are from one God, one Spirit, and there is nothing incorrect or contradictory about this. Know this. The work of Almighty God fulfills the prophecies the Lord Jesus made in the Age of Grace. The Lord Jesus’ promises are all honored, and His words are completely fulfilled; tares and wheat, goats and sheep, evil servants and good servants—all will be revealed according to their kind.
What is the most crucial element of entry into life? Obedience to God. Learn to obey God, learn to seek, practice, and obey the truth, and eventually you will become obedient to God and your faith in God will be successful. What does a person who obeys God look like? First of all, you must be able to practice God’s word. If you are able to practice much of God’s word and have attained much of the reality of God’s word, then you are someone who truly obeys God. Secondly, you can obey the work of the Holy Spirit and submit to His enlightenment, illumination, and guidance, then you are someone who truly obeys God. Thirdly, if you obey all the work arrangements of God’s family, and fulfill your duties properly according to the demands, then you are someone who obeys God. These are the core requirements. The most important part of obeying God is obeying God’s word, obeying the truth, obeying the Holy Spirit, obeying the work arrangements of God’s family—this is true obedience to God. Some say, “God doesn’t speak to us directly, and doesn’t make direct demands either. In that case, is merely practicing God’s word enough to be truly obedient to God?” There are even people who say, “I don’t practice God’s word or very rarely practice the truth, but if God spoke to me, I’d practice what He told me, even if I had to climb a mountain of swords or plunge into a sea of flames.” Is this someone who obeys God? Some say no. Why not? Some people say this kind of person makes big, empty talk. True, this is empty talk. Where is he going to make good on his word? He has no opportunity to see God in his entire life, so how could he hear God speaking to him directly? God’s most actual words are the words that He expressed, and they have been printed in the book The Word Appears in the Flesh. These are God’s most actual words, and if you cannot even practice these words, then you won’t be able to prove that you are a person who submits to God, isn’t this so? What does a person who truly obeys God look like? First of all, they obey and practice God’s word. Second of all, if something accords with the truth they will obey it, regardless of who says it; this is obeying the truth. Thirdly, they obey the Holy Spirit, they submit to His enlightenment, illumination, and guidance. Fourthly, they obey the work arrangements of God’s family. Once you meet these four requirements, then you will be truly obedient to God. If you have not met these four requirements, or can only accomplish 1 or 2 of them, then you can only be considered a little obedient, but not wholly obedient. Is this not the case? Some people rack their brains over whether or not they’ve attained the truth and life, whether or not they’ve been transformed in their life disposition, but they still can’t see things clearly. They’ll say: “How do I measure this? What do we take as our basic standard? What do we take as proof?” They don’t know how to perceive this matter. Do you understand now? Understand this.
Now do you know what obedience to God is? Most people say that they do. Are there still some who say “I cannot obey”? If there are still some who say such things, then where does the problem lie? This kind of person just doesn’t obey God. If he said this with an antagonistic, contending tone, then he belongs to the demons and Satan. “I cannot obey!” These are the words of the demons and Satan; this manner of speaking reveals one’s wrong disposition. What if someone says, “God, my stature is too small, my heart is willing to practice, but I’m unable to. God, please save me, and give me strength.” How’s this manner of speaking? This person is speaking from his heart and seeking the truth. And so, his inability to obey God will not be an issue, for he only does it because his stature is small, and not because he belongs to the demons and Satan. Can you see the difference now? You all say you can. The false leaders, antichrists, all speak like this. Whatever arrangements I make, as soon as they hear about them they’ll say, “I can’t obey, I can’t accept these arrangements.” As soon as I hear this, I know they’re the devil. Are these people easy to deal with? So long as you have discernment then there’s no issue, but if you don’t, you won’t be able to deal with them. Once you all have discernment, you’ll kick them out, won’t you? Is there anything you don’t understand that I can make clear? If you have a question, feel free to ask.
Questions & Answers
Question 1: We haven’t yet grasped the principles regarding how to define blasphemy. We can recognize clear displays of blasphemy, but, as for unclear or unusual instances, we aren’t sure whether someone blasphemes God or not, whether we should purge and expel them. For example, if a person goes to a religious church to look for gospel targets, and the pastor is talking about something negative, and he distributes the negative materials to his followers and has them take turns reading them. That person won’t want to read, but is afraid of being put on the spot, so he reads with them anyway, and afterward is filled with regret. While directing a play, a director might lead the actors to say blasphemous words. In their hearts they feel anxious about their lines, but they know they’re shooting a movie, it’s just a play, and to act their parts well this is how they must act, so they follow the director’s lead and say the blasphemous words. When a leader fellowships with brothers and sisters about blasphemous subjects, they casually say some blasphemous words against God, and the brothers and sisters think that the leader blasphemed against God. In these examples, the people don’t want to say blasphemous words, but they still say them anyway; they make this mistake. Do these situations require that they be purged or expelled? What is true blasphemy against God, how do we define and make sure whether this is a display of blasphemy? This issue isn’t very clear, we humbly ask the above to provide fellowship to us about this.
Answer: There are a few different situations under which blasphemy takes place. In the first kind, a person has been seized by the great red dragon. The officials of the Chinese Communist Party are all blasphemous devils who resist God. They force believers in God to say blasphemous words. In this kind of environment, some believers are weak and speak blasphemous words. This situation is forced blasphemy. Those who are forced to blaspheme God do not truly wish to do so, and they are not blasphemous people by nature. Rather, they are being forced to speak under unbearable torture and cruelty. A person in this kind of situation will generally not be convicted for blasphemy. In the second kind of situation, “actors in a play play the antagonist and speak blasphemous words,” this is not blasphemy either, because it is just a play. If the script has blasphemous speech and the character you play is the antagonist, then as the antagonist, you must speak according to how the script is written. When you speak these words, the manner of speaking can’t be wrong. In this kind of situation, where the actors merely say the lines of the antagonist in the film, this is not considered blasphemy, and they will not be condemned by God. When we were about to begin filming a movie, some actors asked questions about it. I told them: Don’t you believe that God examines the depths of man’s hearts? When God’s family films a movie, and you play the antagonist, how could God condemn you? What do you take God for? Do you think God will follow regulations as people do? God is the truth, God is righteous, God examines the depths of our hearts. If you don’t know even this much how do you expect to give a faithful portrayal? When I put it this way, they understood. When playing the antagonist and acting according to the script, this isn’t blasphemy at all, this is normal, it is just part of performing your duty. In the third situation, some brothers and sisters go to the religious churches to look for gospel targets, and find the pastor blasphemes God. He has them read negative material, and they’re afraid that people will realize that they’re there to look for gospel targets, and having been exposed they will be dismissed from the church, so they’ll be reluctant to read it. Once they’ve read it, they feel weak and are full of regret. There is a way to avoid this. If a person reads without knowing what to do here, this is a transgression, but it is not necessarily the sin of blasphemy! In this kind of situation, this person absolutely will not be condemned, he has merely committed the transgression. At that time, he was weak, and without wisdom, he had no discernment. So he is not condemned in such a situation, but don’t make the same mistake again in the future!
So what is blasphemy after all? To put it precisely, an evil person naturally hates the truth, and as soon as you bear witness to God and speak of the truth, he will be disgusted, he will condemn. This stems from his nature. This is true blasphemy. Just like the religious pastors who, knowing fully that the words spoken by Almighty God are the truth, but still condemn—this is true blasphemy of God, this is downright blasphemy of God. The great red dragon’s words are pure blasphemy. Antichrists oppose God, condemn the work of God, and even say that the work of God and God’s family is man’s work: This is blasphemy. There is still another kind of blasphemy. This occurs when a person complains to God while facing trials and says blasphemous words. This is blasphemy, and it will reveal his nature. Someone suffers pruning and dealing, and while he is obviously aware of how God’s family deals with him completely in accordance with the fact, he doesn’t obey anyway. He is resentful and indignant, he condemns the work of God and God’s family and says that it is man’s work. This kind of person is blasphemous. Blaspheming God consists of: 1) Blaspheming the work of the Holy Spirit. 2) Hating the truth, condemning the truth that God speaks, and condemning God’s words. 3) Words that directly blaspheme Christ. Is it clear? If someone is directing a play and is fully aware that their words are blasphemous, he still directs the play like this and leads everyone to say these words. If the words he says are the same as the words in his heart, if some of the words aren’t in the script, or are even worse than the dialogue in the script and he says such blasphemous words intentionally, then he is someone who blasphemes God. If he speaks these words because he hates the truth, hates God’s family, and hates the man used by God, of course it’s probably blasphemous! As long as a person hates the truth, hates God’s work, and hates the man used by God, he is very likely to blaspheme God the moment he opens his mouth. He takes God’s work and firmly calls it man’s work, and goes so far as to demean and condemn God’s work. Isn’t this blaspheming God? Are you clear now?
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Question 2: I have always striven to make and maintain a good name for myself among others. As such, when carrying out my duty, I have always done my utmost to protect my position and my image as it appears to the brothers and sisters. I have used apparent good behavior in place of carrying out the truth, and I have not regarded such as shameful. In fact, I had thought that what I was doing was correct and was a positive thing. However, through the real environment which God has set for me, and through that which He reveals in His words, I recognized that I was, in fact, truly deceitful. I was, in essence, vying with God for position. When this was revealed to me and I saw the essence of my nature for what it is, I was left in a very negative and confused state. It appears that a person’s essence is predetermined, and I don’t know if I can change. I would like to know how I should go about solving this problem.
Answer: In experiencing the work of God, all people reveal corruption. This is normal, and it may be that a person continues in their corrupt ways for a long time. They may even continue for ten or twenty years without fully solving their problems. What does this show us? That humanity’s corruption runs deep! God tells us that humanity’s corruption runs deep. That’s to say, people lack humanity and almost all who live are demons. Why do we say that almost all who live are demons? If they are indeed all demons how can God save them? Why not simply destroy humanity and be done with it? This is not the way. Although humans may all be demons, not all demons are the same. On the outside, they may live as demons, but the essence of their nature is different. So, how are they different? There are three basic ways: First, those who can be saved hear God’s voice and can accept it as truth. They follow God and truly believe in Him. But as for the demons, they hear God’s voice and know it is truth; they know it is a positive thing, but they do not accept it. They resist and condemn it. Is this not a major difference? It is the biggest difference between those who can be saved and those who cannot. Second, in one’s experience of God’s work, God will pass judgment and chastisement, He will prune and deal with them, He will put them through trials and refine them. If a person can obey and accept such work, and no matter how many times they fail, they still strive to reach higher and do not quit, finally they will be able to put some truth into practice. They will become one who is obedient to God, one whose life disposition has changed; this is one who can be saved. If one dislikes God’s judgment and chastisement and declines to accept it; if they both refuse and resist the way in which God prunes and deals with them; if they complain about trials and refinement and constantly avoid them, then this person has not borne witness to God. Even if this person hears God’s voice and accepts His work, they must be cast out, for they do not accept the truth, they do not obey the truth, they do not strive for truth. Such a person has failed. During their experiences, some people fail time and again but they do not become dispirited, they still wish to strive for truth and pray to God, entreating Him, saying, “God, do not give up on me no matter how corrupt I am. I have failed and fallen many times, but please save me. I will take whichever hardships are required. I will not leave You.” One who prays such, they are one who in the end shall be saved. This shows the behavior of those who can be saved and of those who accept God’s work but do not pursue the truth. They are clearly different, are they not? There is, however, another better form of testimony. That is, no matter how much suffering one goes through in order to receive truth, even sacrificing their life, they will not hesitate. This person truly desires God. They are willing to be obedient to Him unto death and still do not complain. “I believe in God. Regardless of whether or not He gives me position, even if He gives me up to Satan, I still will not complain of Him.” You see, this person is one who has been perfected. This is one who desires God the most, and who loves truth the most. There are some who love truth. But when false leaders and antichrists are the ones in power, they envy such people. They hate them and marginalize them. They worry that such a person will take their position. But such a person does not seek position. “No matter where God sets me down, I will pursue the truth and I will obey His plans.” Eventually the day will come when God’s chosen people see: “This person obeys, he truly obeys God. He has the reality of the truth!” They will raise up such a person. When the time of God arrives, God will surely have a place for him. Such a person, one who has the reality of the truth, will be given a position by God in the end. To use a common phrase, “No matter where it falls, gold will always shine.” Is this not the case? This is how we can deal with the second question.
Question 3: When we practice building a normal relationship with God every day, we cannot persevere because of obstructions from Satan’s corrupt disposition. How can we ensure that we can persevere and continue our practice?
Answer: Sometimes, praying to God relies on the perseverance of one’s will. Sometimes, under special circumstances or when being obstructed by your corrupt disposition, you can take a rest from building a normal relationship with God for one or two days and then wait for the opportunity to continue your practice. You cannot, though, stray far from God simply because of one failure. Your heart must be clear. It must understand. Do not be confused. Today, you are weak. You are not close to God. Tomorrow, you are weak. You are not close to Him. After a few days, such weakness passes, but you are still not close to God. What is the problem? You do not want God in your heart. It is acceptable to feel weak or fail in a single moment. But later if you are not close to God, if you do not read His words and do not attend meetings, then you are one who does not want God. Such a person has problems in their heart. Aside from this, what is it that gives us perseverance? When one who believes in God has a foundation on which to build, they will have some knowledge of God; they will have tasted the sweetness of the work of the Holy Spirit and gained some comfort from this. As such, carrying out prayers and being obedient to Him will become much easier. Such a person has tasted the sweetness. They have grasped the basics. From now on persevering will be simpler. In the beginning, when a person has not tasted the sweetness, when their corrupt disposition is very serious; when their corrupt disposition has not been in the slightest bit resolved, or has only been resolved to a very small degree, then such a person will find it harder to persevere. However, after such a person is pruned and dealt with, after they are judged, chastised and then put through trials and refined, some main aspects of their corrupt disposition will be somewhat transformed, then their corrupt disposition will not hold them back too much when they continue to move forward, and it will not pose a great threat. Understand? If a person’s corrupt disposition is not remedied in the slightest, then it is a huge task to get things started. At this stage, first, one must ensure that they regularly attend meetings. Second, one must ensure they regularly listen to sermons. Third, one must find a person who understands the truth with whom they can communicate. With this support, even if your corrupt disposition is serious, you would be able to control it. Without such support, without assistance from some brothers and sisters who understand the truth, without participation in church life and without listening to sermons, then the difficulties are great. Is that clear? Let me give you an example. Let’s say that there is a person who has just found their faith. Their corrupt disposition remains in its original state. They are deceitful, full of lies; they have not experienced any pruning and dealing. They are arrogant and conceited, of course, and also superficial and vain. They have no experience of being dealt with. Is this person’s disposition seriously corrupt? And just how serious is it? If anyone were to speak an unpleasant word to this person, they would be very likely to betray God and stop believing. If they encounter some unpleasant dealing and pruning, it is difficult for them to accept it. It is very likely for them to betray God and lose their faith. Not to mention should some disaster befall this person’s family, then any little upset could cause them to lose faith. Such a person, when they have just found their faith, is at their weakest. Just like a newly born baby, the first six months are very precarious, but after that things are much better. After six months of nurture, the infant is stronger, his immunity is greater. So it is that, when one starts to have faith and is just beginning to establish a normal relationship with God, there are many difficulties. It is not easy to bring up the issue of a person’s corrupt disposition. When you speak to them, you must tread carefully, try not to upset them and try not to be too harsh. There are some people for whom you can communicate hundreds of truths and they will accept them all. However, if just one point does not adhere to their views, then they will turn and run. People ask them, “Why did you leave?” And they will say, “It was because of this one point.” There are some who, when I tell them that there is reincarnation, they say, “I do not accept that. Though other preaching is correct, I’m not listening. I don’t believe it!” There are some who, on hearing me reveal that a religious pastor is an antichrist, say, “No, I don’t accept it. This way is not right. Ordinary people all have love in their hearts. Religious pastors serve God; how can you try to reveal them as different? I don’t believe it! This way is definitely wrong. Even if what you tell me, except this, is all correct, I will not listen.” Is it easy for such a person to receive God’s salvation? Such a person’s corrupt disposition is fixed and unmoving; you cannot touch it. It’s like playing with fire. One slip up and you’re finished. Such a person will not give in to you. But you see, if this person continues to listen to sermons, after six months to a year of listening, they will have started to build a foundation. Once the foundation develops, if you were to deal with this person then they would be OK, they would continue to believe. If a false leader treated them badly, treated them without love, it would not bother them; they would continue to believe. If an antichrist hurt them, in the end it still would be of no bother. If the great red dragon tried to confuse them, or a religious pastor tried to confuse them, they would have discernment. They would see through it. At this stage, a person has a foundation. Now, regular matters cannot cause them to fail; when they have reached this stage, it is good. Now that they have reached this level, when they hear fellowship and sermons of God’s house they will think, “Oh, this way is bright! Carrying on along this path is right. OK, I will carry on along it.” Now, there should not be too many difficulties, unless of course something serious happens. If the love of their life dies, they would somewhat complain against God; but if this trial had not befallen them then they would not fail. Some of our sisters, their husbands passed but they did not crumble, they continued to expend their efforts for God. They did not let such a thing control them, they did not allow it to drag them down. Their faith is great. There are some brothers whose wife passes and they do not re-marry; they save themselves the angst. They let themselves remain single; food and clothing are all they need. They do not busy themselves with matters of the flesh. Not only do they not fall from the way, they grow stronger. This is what it means to have a foundation. Once a person has the foundation, when, in pursuit of truth they are put through a trial, or meet with adversity, it is easy for them to stand up to it. Such a person’s relationship with God is becoming ever more normal. Every day they continue to carry out the truth, they persevere. It is now so easy for them. They can do it. At any time or any place, they can pray to God.
Question 4: How can we increase our love of truth in our heart?
Answer: Increasing one’s love of truth is part of the process of growing one’s stature. As one’s understanding of the truth increases, their stature too begins to grow and their love for the truth becomes more real. The greater one’s understanding of the truth, the greater their love of truth will be. Those who do not understand the truth have only a very small amount of love for truth in their heart, a very small amount indeed. But which kind of person loves truth? Let’s look at an example: Imagine an unbeliever, one who does not believe in God but is a good person. What conditions would make him accept God? Which type of person is most likely to believe in God? Which type of person should we focus on when spreading the gospel? Those who have a sense of justice in their hearts. How will it present itself? It is like this: If a person with a sense of justice in their heart is witness to evil, they will be disgusted by it. They will hate evil, and they will love fairness. Those who do things well, do things properly and fairly; they will approve them and like them. Those who do evil are the ones they will hate. They can see if someone is on the right path and if one walks the path of evil. They can recognize those who are dignified and upstanding, they can even more recognize those who have a sense of justice. They’re of clear and sober mind. They’re sharp and keen in spirit. There are some who do not have faith but who say, “This world is so evil, so dark. Look at politics around the world; it consists mainly of evil people. There are few of kind heart doing what is right.” This person has seen things for what they are. Some also say, “Those in the Chinese Communist Party are not good people. They are not on the right path; they are not a normal ruling party. They are a party of evil!” They have recognized this and they say, “This society and the people in it are too evil, too dark. Demons hold the power; humanity will never prosper. Disasters will become more and more serious.” What kind of a person is one who has such a point of view? They are one who has some love for justice; they have a love for that which is positive and for that which is fair and righteous; they take interest in matters they know to be positive. Is this not true? So, if you communicate the truth to this person, communicate God’s words, as he listens he will recognize them as correct; as he listens more often, he will come to understand: “Oh, this must be the true way! This is the true way! This is not one of those common religions with their superficial teachings about being a good person. This is the true way! This is the path to a bright life. This is the way to knowing God. This is the way to eternal life!” So as, through experience, he understands more clearly God’s words and His truth, he will realize that the truth is so precious. He will see the urgency of receiving truth. He will see that with faith in God, the pursuit of other things is meaningless. A pursuit of truth and a pursuit of knowing God are most meaningful. Reputation, status and vanity are all meaningless. Truth is precious. Truth is life. While in this world, there is Satan’s logic and Satan’s philosophy, it is “Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost.” If Satan’s logic penetrates your heart, you act upon it in society, all the time thinking: “It seems right. Wonderful! It’s so true!” Then, without realizing it you will have taken on the philosophy and logic of Satan! You will be filled by it, fattened up with it by Satan. Because of this, you will find it hard to accept the truth; you are destined for destruction. So how is a love for truth developed? Read God’s words. Experience God’s words. The more you know God’s words, the more precious you will see the truth to be. The more clearly you know the truth, the more precious you will see the truth to be. The more you see the truth as precious, the greater will be the love of truth in your heart. To what extent? To the extent that you will see all else as dirt. You’ll see that only obtaining truth is precious; only obtaining Christ is precious. That is the extent. This is how a love of truth is cultivated in one’s heart, how the love of truth is increased. Understand?
From Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life
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