All Who Do Not Know God Are Those Who Oppose God

To grasp the purpose of God’s work, what effect to be achieved in man, and the will of God toward man, this is what every man who follows God should achieve. Now what all men lack is the knowledge of God’s work. Man neither comprehends nor understands exactly what constitutes the deeds of God in man, all the work of God, and the will of God since the creation of the world. This inadequacy is not merely seen throughout the religious world, but moreover in all believers of God. When the day comes that you truly behold God and realize the wisdom of God; when you behold all the deeds of God and recognize what God is and has; when you behold His abundance, wisdom, wonder, and all His work in man, it is then that you will have attained successful faith in God. When God is said to be all-encompassing and greatly abundant, what is meant by all-encompassing? And what is meant by abundance? If this you do not understand, then you cannot be deemed a believer of God. Why do I say that those in the religious world do not believe in God and are evildoers, who are of the same kind as the devil? When I say they are evildoers, it is because they do not understand the will of God or see His wisdom. God at no time reveals His work to them; they are blind men, who do not see the deeds of God. They are those forsaken by God and do not possess at all the care and protection of God, much less the work of the Holy Spirit. Those without the work of God are evildoers and stand in opposition to God. Those who I say are in opposition to God are those who do not know God, those who acknowledge God with empty words yet do not know Him, those who follow God yet do not obey Him, and those who revel in the grace of God yet cannot stand witness to Him. Without an understanding of the purpose of God’s work and the work of God in man, man cannot be in accord with the heart of God, and cannot stand witness to God. The reason that man opposes God stems, on the one hand, from the corrupt disposition of man, and on the other hand, from ignorance of God and lack of understanding of the principles of God’s work and His will toward man. These two aspects merge into a history of man’s resistance to God. Novices in the faith oppose God because such opposition lies within their nature, while the opposition against God of those with many years in the faith results from their ignorance of God, in addition to their corrupt disposition. In the time before God became flesh, the measure of whether a man opposed God was whether he kept the decrees set forth by God in heaven. For instance, in the Age of Law, any who did not keep the laws of Jehovah were those who opposed God; any who stole the offerings to Jehovah, and any who stood against those favored by Jehovah were those who opposed God and those who would be stoned to death; any who did not respect his father and mother, and any who struck or cursed another were those who did not keep the laws. And all who did not keep the laws of Jehovah were those who stood against Him. This was no longer so in the Age of Grace, when any who stood against Jesus were those who stood against God, and any who did not obey the words uttered by Jesus were those who stood against God. In this age, the determination of opposition to God became more clearly defined and more real. In the time when God had not become flesh, the measure of whether man opposed God was based on whether man worshiped and looked up to the invisible God in heaven. The definition of opposition to God at the time was not so real, for man then could neither see God nor know the image of God or how He worked and spoke. Man had no conceptions of God and believed in God in vagueness, for He had not appeared to man. Therefore, however man believed in God in their imaginations, God did not condemn man or ask much from man, for man could not see God at all. When God becomes flesh and comes to work among men, all behold God and hear His words, and all see the doings of God in the flesh. At that time, all the conceptions of man dissolve into nothing but foam. As for those who see the God appearing in the flesh, all who have obedience in their hearts shall not be condemned, whereas those who purposefully stand against Him shall be deemed an opponent of God. Such men are antichrists and are enemies who willfully stand against God. Those who have conceptions regarding God yet gladly obey will not be condemned. God condemns man on the basis of his intentions and actions, never for his thoughts and ideas. If man was condemned on such basis, then not one would be able to escape from the wrathful hands of God. Those who willfully stand against the incarnate God shall be punished for their disobedience. Their willful opposition to God stems from their conceptions of Him, which result in their disturbance to the work of God. Such men knowingly resist and destroy the work of God. Not merely do they have conceptions of God, but they do that which disturbs His work, and it is for this reason that such manner of men shall be condemned. Those who do not engage in willful disturbance of the work of God shall not be condemned as sinners, for they are able to willingly obey and not cause disruption and disturbance. Such men shall not be condemned. However, when men have experienced many years of God’s work, if they still harbor their conceptions of God and remain unable to know the work of the incarnate God, and despite many years of experience, they continue to hold onto many conceptions of God and are still unable to come to know God, then even if they cause no trouble with so many conceptions of God in their hearts, and even if such conceptions do not show up, such men are of no service to the work of God. They are unable to preach the gospel or stand witness to God; such men are good-for-nothings and imbeciles. Because they do not know God and are incapable of casting away their conceptions of God, they are condemned. It can be said like this: It is not uncommon for novices in the faith to have conceptions of God or know nothing of Him, but it is abnormal for those who have believed for many years and experienced much of the work of God to hold such conceptions, and much more so for such men to have no knowledge of God. It is as a result of such abnormal state that such men are condemned. Such abnormal men are good-for-nothings; they are those who most oppose God and who have enjoyed the grace of God in vain. All such men shall be eliminated in the end!

To Have an Unchanged Disposition Is to Be in Enmity to God

After several thousand years of corruption, man has become numb and dull-witted, a demon that opposes God, to the extent that man’s rebelliousness toward God has been documented in the books of history, and even man himself is incapable of giving a full account of his rebellious behavior—for man has been profoundly corrupted by Satan, and has been led astray by Satan that he knows not where to turn. Even today, man still betrays God: When man sees God, he betrays Him, and when he cannot see God, so too does he betray Him. There are even those who, having witnessed God’s curses and God’s wrath, still betray Him. And so I say that man’s sense has lost its original function, and that man’s conscience, too, has lost its original function. The man that I look upon is a beast in human attire, he is a venomous snake, and no matter how pitiable he tries to appear before My eyes, I will never be merciful toward him, for man has no grasp of the difference between black and white, of the difference between truth and non-truth. Man’s sense is so benumbed, yet he still wishes to gain blessings; his humanity is so ignoble yet he still wishes to possess the sovereignty of a king. Who could he be the king of, with sense such as that? How could he with such a humanity sit atop a throne? Man truly has no shame! He is a conceited wretch! For those of you who wish to gain blessings, I suggest you first find a mirror and look at your own ugly reflection—do you have what it takes to be a king? Do you have the face of one who could gain blessings? There has not been the slightest change in your disposition and you have not put any of the truth into practice, yet you still wish for a wonderful tomorrow. You’re deluding yourself! Born into such a filthy land, man has been severely blighted by society, he has been influenced by feudal ethics, and he has been taught at “institutes of higher learning.” The backward thinking, corrupt morality, mean view on life, despicable philosophy, utterly worthless existence, and depraved lifestyle and customs—all of these things have severely intruded upon man’s heart, and severely undermined and attacked his conscience. As a result, man is ever more distant from God, and ever more opposed to Him. Man’s disposition becomes more vicious by the day, and there is not a single person who will willingly give up anything for God, not a single person who will willingly obey God, nor, moreover, a single person who will willingly seek the appearance of God. Instead, under the domain of Satan, man does nothing but pursue pleasure, giving himself over to the corruption of the flesh in the land of mud. Even when they hear the truth, those who live in darkness give no thought to putting it into practice, nor are they inclined to seek out God even if they have beheld His appearance. How could a mankind so depraved have any chance of salvation? How could a mankind so decadent live in the light?

Have You Come Alive?

When you have achieved the living out of normal humanity, and have been made perfect, although you will be unable to speak prophecy, nor of any mysteries, you will be living out and revealing the image of a human. God created man, after which man was corrupted by Satan, and this corruption has made people into “dead bodies”—and thus, after you have changed, you will be different from these dead bodies. It is the words of God that give life to people’s spirits and cause them to be reborn, and when people’s spirits are reborn they will have come alive. Mention of the “dead” refers to corpses that have no spirit, to people in whom their spirit has died. When people’s spirits are given life, they come alive. The saints that were spoken of before refer to people who have come alive, those who were under Satan’s influence but defeated Satan. The chosen people of China have endured the cruel and inhumane persecution and trickery of the great red dragon, which has left them mentally ravaged and without the slightest courage to live. Thus, the awakening of their spirits must begin with their substance: Bit-by-bit, in their substance their spirit must be awakened. When, one day, they come alive, there will be no more obstructions, and all will proceed smoothly. At the moment, this remains unachievable. Most people’s living out contains much of the atmosphere of death, they are shrouded in an aura of death, and they lack too much. Some people’s words carry death, their actions carry death, and almost everything they live out is death. If, today, people publicly bear testimony to God, then this work will fail, for they have yet to fully come alive, and there are too many dead among you. Today, some people ask why God doesn’t show some signs and wonders so that He can quickly spread His work among the Gentile nations. The dead can’t bear testimony to God; only the living can, but most people today are dead, too many of them live in the cage of death, they live under the influence of Satan, and are unable to gain victory—and so how could they bear testimony to God? How could they spread the work of the gospel?

Those Who Love God Will Forever Live Within His Light

The substance of most people’s belief in God is religious conviction: They are incapable of loving God, and can only follow God like a robot, unable to truly yearn for God or adore Him. They merely follow Him silently. Many people believe in God, but there are very few who love God; they only “revere” God because they fear catastrophe, or else they “admire” God because He is high and mighty—but in their reverence and admiration there is no love or true yearning. In their experiences they seek the minutiae of the truth, or else some insignificant mysteries. Most people merely follow, they fish in murky waters only to receive blessings; they do not seek the truth, nor do they truly obey God in order to receive God’s blessings. The life of all people’s belief in God is meaningless, it is without value, and in it are their personal considerations and pursuits; they do not believe in God in order to love God, but for the sake of being blessed. Many people act as they please, they do whatever they want, and never consider the interests of God, or whether what they do is in accordance with the will of God. Such people can’t even achieve true belief, let alone the love of God. God’s substance is not just for man to believe in; it is, moreover, for man to love. But many of those who believe in God are incapable of discovering this “secret.” People don’t dare to love God, nor do they try to love Him. They have never discovered that there is so much that is lovable about God, they have never discovered that God is the God who loves man, and that He is the God who is for man to love. The loveliness of God is expressed in His work: Only when they experience His work can people discover His loveliness, only in their actual experiences can they appreciate the loveliness of God, and without observing it in real life, no one can discover God’s loveliness. There is so much to love about God, but without actually engaging with Him people are incapable of discovering it. Which is to say, if God did not become flesh, people would be incapable of actually engaging with Him, and if they were unable to actually engage with Him, they also wouldn’t be able to experience His work—and so their love of God would be tainted with much falsehood and imagination. The love of the God in heaven is not as real as the love of the God on earth, for people’s knowledge of God in heaven is built upon their imaginings, rather than upon what they have seen with their own eyes, and what they have personally experienced. When God comes to earth, people are able to behold His actual deeds and His loveliness, and they can see everything of His practical and normal disposition, all of which is thousands of times more real than the knowledge of the God in heaven. Regardless of how much people love the God in heaven, there is nothing real about this love, and it is full of human ideas. No matter how little their love for the God on earth, this love is real; even if there is only a little of it, it is still real. God causes people to know Him through real work, and through this knowledge He gains their love. It’s like Peter: If he hadn’t lived with Jesus, it would have been impossible for him to adore Jesus. So, too, was his loyalty toward Jesus built upon his engagement with Jesus. To make man love Him, God has come among man and lives together with man, and all that He makes man see and experience is the reality of God.

How Peter Came to Know Jesus

During the time that Peter spent with Jesus, he saw many lovable characteristics in Jesus, many aspects worthy of emulation, and many which supplied him. Although Peter saw the being of God in Jesus in many ways, and saw many lovable qualities, at first he did not know Jesus. Peter began following Jesus when he was 20 years old, and continued so for six years. During that time, he never came to know Jesus, but was willing to follow Him purely out of admiration for Him. When Jesus first called to him on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, He asked: “Simon, son of Jonah, will you follow Me?” Peter said: “I must follow he who is sent by the heavenly Father. I must acknowledge he who is chosen by the Holy Spirit. I will follow You.” At the time, Peter had heard tell of a man named Jesus, the greatest of the prophets, God’s beloved Son, and Peter was constantly hoping to find Him, hoping for a chance to see Him (because that is how he was then led by the Holy Spirit). Although he had never seen Him and had only heard rumors about Him, gradually a yearning and adoration for Jesus grew in his heart, and he often yearned to one day look upon Jesus. And how did Jesus call upon Peter? He too had heard tell of a man called Peter, and it was not that the Holy Spirit instructed Him: “Go to the Sea of Galilee, where there is one called Simon, son of Jonah.” Jesus heard someone say that there was one called Simon, son of Jonah, and that people had heard his sermon, that he too preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and that the people who heard him were all moved to tears. After hearing this, Jesus followed that person, and made for the Sea of Galilee; when Peter accepted Jesus’ call, he followed Him.

Only Those Who Know God Can Bear Testimony to God

It is Heaven’s law and earth’s principle to believe in God and know God, and today—during an age when God incarnate is doing His work in person—is an especially good time to know God. Satisfying God is something that is achieved by building on the foundation of understanding God’s will, and in order to understand God’s will, it is necessary to have some knowledge of God. This knowledge of God is the vision that one who believes in God must have; it is the basis of man’s belief in God. In the absence of this knowledge, man’s belief in God would exist in a vague state, in the midst of empty theory. Even if it is the resolution of people like this to follow God, they will gain nothing. All those who gain nothing in this stream are the ones who will be eliminated—they are all freeloaders. Whichever step of God’s work you experience, you should be accompanied by a mighty vision. Otherwise, it would be difficult for you to accept each step of new work, for the new work of God lies beyond man’s capacity to imagine, and is outside the bounds of his conception. And so, without a shepherd to tend to man, without a shepherd to engage in fellowship about visions, man is incapable of accepting this new work. If man cannot receive visions, then he cannot receive the new work of God, and if man cannot obey God’s new work, then man will be unable to understand God’s will, and so his knowledge of God will amount to nothing. Before man carries out the word of God, he must know the word of God, that is, he must understand God’s will; only in this way can God’s word be carried out accurately and in accordance with God’s will. This is something that everyone who seeks the truth must possess, and it is also the process that everyone who tries to know God must undergo. The process of coming to know the word of God is the process of coming to know God, and also the process of coming to know the work of God. And so, knowing visions not only refers to knowing the humanity of God incarnate, but also includes knowing the word and the work of God. From the word of God people come to understand God’s will, and from the work of God they come to know God’s disposition and what God is. Belief in God is the first step to knowing God. The process of advancing from this initial belief in God to the most profound belief in Him is the process of coming to know God, and the process of experiencing the work of God. If you only believe in God for the sake of believing in God, and not for the sake of coming to know Him, then there is no reality to your faith, and your faith cannot become pure—of this there is no doubt. If, during the process by which he experiences God’s work, man gradually comes to know God, then his disposition will gradually change, and his belief will become increasingly true. In this way, when man achieves success in his belief in God, he will have completely gained God. The reason why God went to such great lengths to become flesh for the second time to do His work in person was so that man would be able to know Him and to see Him. Knowing God[a] is the final effect to be achieved at the conclusion of God’s work; it is the last requirement God makes of mankind. The reason why He does this is for the sake of His final testimony; it is in order that man may finally and completely turn to Him that He does this work. Man can only come to love God by knowing God, and to love God he must know God. No matter how he seeks, or what he seeks to gain, he must be able to achieve knowledge of God. Only in this way can man satisfy God’s heart. Only by knowing God can man have true faith in God, and only by knowing God can he truly revere and obey God. Those who do not know God will never arrive at true obedience and reverence of God. Knowing God includes knowing His disposition, understanding His will, and knowing what He is. Yet whichever aspect one comes to know, each one requires man to pay a price, and requires the will to obey, without which no one would be able to continue following to the end. The work of God is too incompatible with the conceptions of man, God’s disposition and what God is are too difficult for man to know, and everything that God says and does is too incomprehensible to man: If man wishes to follow God and yet is unwilling to obey Him, then man will gain nothing. From the creation of the world until today, God has done much work that is incomprehensible to man and that man has found hard to accept, and God has spoken much that makes the conceptions of man difficult to heal. But He has never ceased His work on account of man’s having too many difficulties; rather, He has carried on working and speaking, and even though great numbers of “warriors” have fallen by the wayside, He is still doing His work, and continues without intermission to choose one group after another of people who are willing to submit to His new work. He has no pity for those fallen “heroes,” and instead treasures those who accept His new work and words. But to what end does He work in this way, step-by-step? Why is He always eliminating some people and choosing others? Why is it that He always employs such a method? The aim of His work is to allow man to know Him, and thus be gained by Him. The principle of His work is to work on those who are able to submit to the work He does today, and not to work on those who submit to the work He has done in the past while opposing the work He does today. Herein lies the reason why He has been eliminating so many people.

A Brief Talk About “The Millennial Kingdom Has Arrived”

How do you see the vision of the Millennial Kingdom? Some people think about it a lot, and say that the Millennial Kingdom will last for a thousand years on earth, so if the older members of the church are unmarried, do they have to get married? My family has no money, should I start making money? … What is the Millennial Kingdom? Do you know? People are purblind, and suffer a great ordeal. In fact, the Millennial Kingdom has yet to officially arrive. During the stage of making people perfect, the Millennial Kingdom is but a fledgling; at the time of the Millennial Kingdom spoken of by God, man will have been made perfect. Previously, it was said that people would be like saints and stand firm in the land of Sinim. Only when people are made perfect—when they become the saints spoken of by God—will the Millennial Kingdom have arrived. When God makes people perfect, He purifies them, and the purer they are the more they are made perfect by God. When the impurity, rebelliousness, opposition, and things of the flesh within you are expelled, when you have been purified, then you will be beloved by God (and in other words, you will be a saint); when you have been made perfect by God and become a saint, you will be in the Millennial Kingdom. Now is the Age of Kingdom. In the Age of Millennial Kingdom people will depend on the words of God to live, and all nations will come under God’s name, and all come to read God’s words. At that time some will call by telephone, some will fax … they will use every means to access God’s words, and you, too, will come under God’s words. All this is what happens after people are made perfect. Today, people are made perfect, refined, enlightened, and guided through words; this is the Age of Kingdom, it is the stage of people being made perfect, and it has no connection to the Age of Millennial Kingdom. During the Age of Millennial Kingdom, people will have already been made perfect and the corrupt disposition within them will have been made pure. At that time, the words spoken by God will guide people step by step, and reveal all of the mysteries of God’s work from the time of creation until today, and His words will tell people of God’s actions in every age and every day, how He guides people inside, the work He does in the spiritual realm, and will tell them of the dynamics of the spiritual realm. Only then will it truly be the Age of Word; now it is merely in a fledgling state. If people are not made perfect and purified, they will have no way of living a thousand years on earth, and their flesh will inevitably decay; if people are purified inside, and they are no longer of Satan and the flesh, then they will remain alive on earth. In this stage you are still purblind, and all that you experience is loving God and bearing Him testimony for every day you live on earth.

Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God

Today, as you seek to love and know God, in one respect you must endure hardship and refinement, and in another, you must pay a price. No lesson is more profound than the lesson of loving God, and it can be said that the lesson that people learn from a lifetime of belief is how to love God. Which is to say, if you believe in God you must love God. If you only believe in God but do not love Him, have not attained the knowledge of God, and have never loved God with a true love that comes from within your heart, then your belief in God is futile; if, in your belief in God, you do not love God, then you live in vain, and your entire life is the most lowly of all lives. If, throughout your whole life, you have never loved or satisfied God, then what is the point of you living? And what is the point of your belief in God? Isn’t that a waste of effort? Which is to say, if people are to believe in and love God, then they must pay a price. Rather than trying to act in a certain way externally, they should seek true insight in the depths of their hearts. If you are enthusiastic about singing and dancing, but incapable of putting the truth into practice, can you be said to love God? Loving God requires seeking God’s will in all things, and that you probe deep within when anything happens to you, trying to grasp God’s will, and trying to see what God’s will is in this matter, what He wishes you to achieve, and how you should be mindful of His will. For example: Something happens that requires you to endure hardship, at which time you should understand what God’s will is, and how you should be mindful of His will. You must not satisfy yourself: First put yourself to one side. Nothing is more abject than the flesh. You must seek to satisfy God, and must fulfill your duty. With such thoughts, God will bring especial enlightenment to you in this matter, and your heart will also find comfort. Be it big or small, when something happens to you, you must first put yourself to one side and regard the flesh as the most lowly of all things. The more you satisfy the flesh, the more liberties it takes; if you satisfy it this time, next time it will ask for more, and as this carries on, you come to love the flesh even more. The flesh always has extravagant desires, it always asks that you satisfy it, and that you gratify it within, whether it be in the things you eat, what you wear, or in flying off the handle, or pandering to your own weaknesses and laziness…. The more you satisfy the flesh, the greater its desires become, and the more debauched the flesh becomes, until it gets to the point when people’s flesh harbors even deeper conceptions, and disobeys God, and exalts itself, and becomes doubtful about the work of God. The more you satisfy the flesh, the greater the weaknesses of the flesh; you’ll always feel that no one sympathizes with your weaknesses, you’ll always believe that God has gone too far, and you’ll say: “How could God be so harsh? Why won’t He give people a break?” When people are too indulgent of the flesh, and cherish it too much, then they ruin themselves. If you truly love God, and do not satisfy the flesh, then you’ll see that everything God does is so right, and so good, and that His curse of your rebelliousness and judgment of your unrighteousness is justified. There will be times when God chastens and disciplines you, and raises up an environment to temper you, forcing you to come before Him—and you will always feel that what God is doing is wonderful. Thus you will feel as if there isn’t much pain, and that God is so lovely. If you pander to the weaknesses of the flesh, and say that God goes too far, then you’ll always feel in pain, and will always be depressed, and you will be unclear about all of the work of God, and it will seem as if God is not sympathetic to man’s weakness at all, and unaware of man’s difficulties. And thus you will feel miserable and alone, as if you have suffered great injustice, and at this time you will begin to complain. The more you pander to the weaknesses of the flesh in this way, the more you will feel that God goes too far, until it gets so bad that you deny the work of God, and begin to oppose God, and become full of disobedience. Thus, you must rebel against the flesh, and not pander to it: “My husband (wife), children, prospects, marriage, family—none of them matter! In my heart there is only God, and I must try my best to satisfy God, and not satisfy the flesh.” You must have this resolve. If you are always possessed of such resolve, then when you put the truth into practice, and put yourself aside, you will be able to do so with but a little effort. It is said that there was once a farmer who saw a snake on the road that was frozen stiff. The farmer picked it up and held it to his breast, and after the snake was revived it bit the farmer to death. Man’s flesh is like the snake: Its essence is to harm their lives—and when it completely gets its own way, your life becomes forfeit. The flesh belongs to Satan. Within it are extravagant desires, it thinks only for itself, it wants to enjoy comfort, and revel in leisure, wallowing in sloth and idleness, and having satisfied it to a certain point you will ultimately be eaten up by it. Which is to say, if you satisfy it this time, next time it will come asking for more. It always has extravagant desires and new demands, and takes advantage of your pandering to the flesh to make you cherish it even more and live among its comforts—and if you don’t overcome it, you will ultimately ruin yourself. Whether you can gain life before God, and what your ultimate end will be, depends on how you carry out your rebellion against the flesh. God has saved you, and chosen and predestined you, yet if today you are unwilling to satisfy Him, you are unwilling to put the truth into practice, you are unwilling to rebel against your own flesh with a heart that truly loves God, ultimately you will ruin yourself, and will thus endure extreme pain. If you always pander to the flesh, Satan will gradually gobble you up inside, and leave you without life, or the touch of the Spirit, until the day comes when you are completely dark inside. When you live in darkness, you will have been taken captive by Satan, you will no longer have God in your heart, and at that time you will deny God’s existence and leave Him. Thus, if you wish to love God, you must pay the price of pain and endure hardship. There is no need for external fervency and hardship, reading more and running about more; instead, you should put aside the things within you: the extravagant thoughts, personal interests, and your own considerations, conceptions, and motivations. Such is God’s will.

All Is Achieved by the Word of God

God speaks His words and does His work according to different ages, and in different ages, He speaks different words. God does not abide by rules, or repeat the same work, or feel nostalgia for the things of the past; He is a God who is always new and never old, and every day He speaks new words. You should abide by that which should be abided by today; this is the responsibility and duty of man. It is crucial that practice be centered around the light and words of God in the present day. God does not abide by rules, and is able to speak from many different perspectives to make plain His wisdom and omnipotence. It matters not whether He speaks from the perspective of the Spirit, or of man, or of the third person—God is always God, and you cannot say that He is not God because of the perspective of man from which He speaks. Among some people there have emerged conceptions as a result of the different perspectives from which God speaks. Such people have no knowledge of God, and no knowledge of His work. If God always spoke from one perspective, would man not lay down rules about God? Could God allow man to act in such a way? Regardless of which perspective God speaks from, God has His aims for each. If God were always to speak from the perspective of the Spirit, would you be able to engage with Him? Thus, sometimes He speaks in the third person to provide His words to you and guide you into reality. Everything that God does is fitting. In short, it is all done by God, and you should not be doubtful about this. Provided that He is God, then no matter what perspective He speaks from, He is still God. This is an immutable truth. However He works, He is still God, and His substance will not change! Peter so loved God and was a man after God’s own heart, but God did not witness him as the Lord or Christ, for a being’s substance is what it is, and can never change. In His work, God does not abide by rules, but employs different methods to make His work effective and increase man’s knowledge of Him. His every method of working helps man know Him, and is in order to make man perfect. No matter which method of working He employs, each is in order to build up man and make man perfect. Though one of His methods of working may have lasted for a very long time, it is in order to temper man’s faith in Him. Thus you should not be doubtful. These are all the steps of God’s work, and must be obeyed by you.

The Age of Kingdom Is the Age of Word

In the Age of Kingdom, God uses the word to usher in a new age, to change the method of His work, and to do the work for the entire age. This is the principle by which God works in the Age of Word. He became flesh to speak from different perspectives, enabling man to truly see God, who is the Word appearing in the flesh, and His wisdom and wondrousness. Such work is done in order better to achieve the goals of conquering man, perfecting man, and eliminating man. This is the true meaning of using the word to work in the Age of Word. Through the word, man comes to know the work of God, the disposition of God, the essence of man, and what man ought to enter into. Through the word, the work God wishes to do in the Age of Word is brought to fruition in its entirety. Through the word, man is revealed, eliminated, and tried. Man has seen the word, heard the word, and become aware of the existence of the word. As a result, he believes in the existence of God, in the omnipotence and wisdom of God, as well as in God’s love for man and His desire to save man. Though the word “word” is simple and ordinary, the word from the mouth of the incarnate God shakes up the entire universe; it transforms man’s heart, notions, and old disposition, and the way the whole world used to appear. Through the ages, only the God of today works in this manner, and only He speaks thus and comes to save man thus. From this time forward, man lives under the guidance of the word, shepherded and supplied by the word. All humanity has come to live in the world of the word, within the curses and the blessings of God’s word, and there are even more human beings who have come to live under the judgment and chastisement of the word. These words and this work are all for the sake of man’s salvation, for the sake of fulfilling God’s will, and for the sake of changing the original appearance of the world of old creation. God created the world with the word, leads men from all over the universe with the word, and again conquers and saves them with the word. Finally, He shall use the word to bring the entire world of old to an end. Only then is the management plan wholly complete. Throughout the Age of Kingdom, God uses the word to do His work and achieve the results of His work; He does not work wonders or perform miracles; He merely does His work through the word. Because of the word, man is nourished and supplied; because of the word, man gains knowledge and true experience. Man in the Age of Word has truly received exceptional blessings. He suffers no physical pain and simply enjoys the bountiful supply of the word of God; without needing to go seeking or journeying forth, from the midst of his ease he sees the appearance of God, hears Him speak with His own mouth, receives what He supplies, and watches Him personally doing His work. These are things that men in ages past were unable to enjoy, and these are blessings that they could never receive.

Only Those Who Know the Work of God Today Can Serve God

To bear testimony to God and shame the great red dragon you must have a principle, and a condition: In your heart you must love God, and enter into the words of God. If you do not enter into the words of God, then you will have no way of shaming Satan. Through the growth of your life, you renounce the great red dragon and bring utter humiliation upon it, and only then is the great red dragon truly shamed. The more you are willing to put the words of God into practice, the greater the proof of your love of God and loathing of the great red dragon; the more you obey the words of God, the greater the proof of your longing for the truth. People who do not long for the words of God are people who are without life. Such people are those who are outside the words of God, and who belong to religion. People who truly believe in God have a more profound knowledge of God’s words through eating and drinking the words of God. If you do not long for the words of God, then you cannot truly eat and drink the words of God, and if you have no knowledge of the words of God, then you have no means of testifying to God or satisfying God.

Believing in God Should Focus on Reality, Not Religious Rituals

How many religious customs do you observe? How many times have you rebelled against the word of God and gone your own way? How many times have you put into practice the word of God because you are truly considerate of His burdens and seek to fulfill His desire? Understand the word of God and put it into action. Be principled in your actions and deeds; this is not abiding by rules or to do so grudgingly just for show. Rather, this is the practice of truth and living by the word of God. Only practice such as this satisfies God. Any custom that pleases God is not a rule but the practice of truth.

The Seven Thunders Peal—Prophesying That the Gospel of the Kingdom Shall Spread Throughout the Universe

I am spreading My work among the Gentile nations. My glory flashes throughout the universe; My will is embodied within people scattered here and there, all steered by My hand and setting about the tasks I have assigned. From this point on, I have entered into a new age, bringing all men into another world. When I returned to My “homeland,” I commenced yet another part of the work in My original plan, so that man would come to know Me more deeply. I regard the universe in its entirety and see that[a] it is an opportune time for My work, so I hurry back and forth, doing My new work upon man. This is a new age, after all, and I have brought new work to take more new people into the new age and to cast aside more of those that I shall eliminate. In the nation of the great red dragon, I have carried out a stage of work unfathomable to human beings, causing them to sway in the wind, after which many quietly drift away with the blowing of the wind. Truly, this is the “threshing floor” I am about to clear; it is what I yearn for and it is also My plan. For many wicked ones have crept in while I am at work, but I am in no hurry to drive them away. Rather, I shall disperse them when the time is right. Only after that shall I be the fountain of life, allowing those who truly love Me to receive from Me the fruit of the fig tree and the fragrance of the lily. In the land where Satan sojourns, the land of dust, there remains no pure gold, only sand, and so, meeting with these circumstances, I do such a stage of work. You should know that what I gain is pure, refined gold, not sand. How can the wicked remain in My house? How can I allow foxes to be parasites in My paradise? I employ every conceivable method to drive these things away. Before My will is revealed, no one is aware of what I am about to do. Taking this opportunity, I drive away those wicked ones, and they are forced to leave My presence. This is what I do to the wicked, but there will still be a day for them to do service for Me. The desire of men for blessings is much too strong; therefore I turn My body around and show My glorious countenance to the Gentile nations, so that men may all live in a world of their own and judge themselves, while I go on saying the words that I should say, and supplying men with what they need. When men come to their senses, I will have long since spread My work. I shall then express My will to men, and begin the second part of My work upon men, letting all men follow Me closely so as to coordinate with My work, and letting men do everything in their ability to carry out with Me the work that I must do.

You Ought to Live for the Truth Since You Believe in God

The common problem that exists in all men is that they understand the truth but cannot put it into practice. One factor is that man is unwilling to pay the price, and the other is that man’s discernment is too inadequate; he is unable to see past many of the difficulties that exist in real life and knows not how to appropriately practice. As man has too little experience, poor caliber, and limited understanding of the truth, he is unable to resolve the difficulties he encounters in life. He can only pay lip service to his faith in God, yet is unable to bring God into his everyday life. In other words, God is God, and life is life, as if man has no relationship with God in his life. That is what all men believe. Such manner of faith in God will not allow man to be gained and perfected by Him in reality. In truth, it is not that the word of God is incomplete, but rather that the ability of man to receive His word is simply inadequate. It can be said that almost no man acts according to God’s intentions. Rather, their faith in God is in accordance with their own intentions, established religious notions, and customs. Few are those who undergo a transformation following the acceptance of God’s word and begin to act in accordance with His will. Rather, they persist in their mistaken beliefs. When man begins to believe in God, he does so based on the conventional rules of religion, and lives and interacts with others entirely on the basis of his own philosophy of life. Such is the case for nine out of every ten people. Very few are those who formulate another plan and turn over a new leaf after beginning to believe in God. None regard or put into practice the word of God as the truth.

Is the Work of God So Simple as Man Imagines?

As one who believes in God, you should understand that, today, in receiving the work of God in the last days and all the work of God’s plan in you, you have really received great exaltation and salvation from God. All of God’s work in the entire universe has focused on this group of people. He has devoted all His efforts to you and sacrificed all for you; He has reclaimed and given to you all the work of the Spirit throughout the universe. That is why I say, you are the fortunate. Moreover, He has shifted His glory from Israel, His chosen people, to you, in order to make the purpose of His plan fully manifest through you group of people. Therefore, you are those who will receive the inheritance of God, and even more the heirs of God’s glory. Perhaps you all remember these words: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” In the past, you have all heard this saying, yet none understood the true meaning of the words. Today, you know well the real significance they hold. These words are what God will accomplish in the last days. And they will be accomplished upon those cruelly afflicted by the great red dragon in the land where it lies. The great red dragon persecutes God and is the enemy of God, so in this land, those who believe in God are subjected to humiliation and persecution. That is why these words will become reality in you group of people. As the work is carried out in a land that opposes God, all of His work is met with inordinate hindrance, and many of His words cannot be accomplished in good time; hence, people are refined because of the words of God. This too is an element of suffering. It is greatly arduous for God to carry out His work in the land of the great red dragon, but it is through such difficulty that God does a stage of His work to make manifest His wisdom and wondrous deeds. God takes this opportunity to make this group of people complete. Because of people’s suffering, their caliber, and all the satanic disposition of people in this unclean land, God does His work of purification and conquest so that, from this, He may gain glory and gain those who stand witness to His deeds. This is the full significance of all the sacrifices that God has made for this group of people. That is to say, God does the work of conquest just through those who oppose Him. Only doing so can manifest the great power of God. In other words, only those in the unclean land are worthy to inherit the glory of God, and only this can give prominence to the great power of God. That is why I say the glory of God is gained in the unclean land and from those who live within. This is the will of God. This is just as in the stage of Jesus’ work; He could only be glorified among those Pharisees who persecuted Him. If not for such persecution and the betrayal of Judas, Jesus would not have been ridiculed or slandered, much less crucified, and thus could never have gained glory. Wherever God works in each age and wherever He does His work in the flesh, He gains glory there and there gains those He intends to gain. This is the plan of God’s work, and this is His management.

Knowing God’s Work Today

To know God’s work in these times is, for the most part, to know what the principal ministry of God incarnate is in the last days, and what He has come to do on earth. I have previously mentioned in My words that God has come to earth (during the last days) to set an exemplar before departing. How does God set this exemplar? By speaking words, by working and speaking throughout the land. This is God’s work during the last days; He only speaks, so that the earth becomes a world of words, so that every person is provided for and enlightened by His words, and so that man’s spirit is awakened and he is clear about the visions. During the last days, God incarnate has come to earth chiefly in order to speak words. When Jesus came, He spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and accomplished the work of redemption of the crucifixion. He brought an end to the Age of Law, and abolished all the old things. The arrival of Jesus ended the Age of Law and ushered in the Age of Grace. The arrival of God incarnate of the last days has brought an end to the Age of Grace. He has come chiefly to speak His words, to use words to make man perfect, to illuminate and enlighten man, and to remove the place of the vague God within man’s heart. This is not the stage of work that Jesus did when He came. When Jesus came, He performed many miracles, He healed the sick and cast out demons, and He did the work of redemption of the crucifixion. As a consequence, in his conceptions, man believes that this is how God should be. For when Jesus came, He did not do the work of removing the image of the vague God from man’s heart; when He came, He was crucified, He healed the sick and cast out demons, and He spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. In one regard, the incarnation of God during the last days removes the place held by the vague God in the conceptions of man, so that there is no longer the image of the vague God in man’s heart. Through His actual words and actual work, His movement across all lands, and the exceptionally real and normal work that He does among man, He causes man to know the reality of God, and removes the place of the vague God in man’s heart. In another regard, God uses the words spoken by His flesh to make man complete, and accomplish all things. This is the work that God will accomplish during the last days.

You Should Know That the Practical God Is God Himself

What should you know about the practical God? The Spirit, the Person, and the Word make up the practical God Himself, and this is the true meaning of the practical God Himself. If you only know the Person—if you know His habits and personality—but do not know the work of the Spirit, or what the Spirit does in the flesh, and if you only pay attention to the Spirit, and the Word, and only pray before the Spirit, unknowing of the work of God’s Spirit in the practical God, then this yet proves that you do not know the practical God. Knowledge of the practical God includes knowing and experiencing His words, and grasping the rules and principles of the work of the Holy Spirit, and how the Spirit of God works in the flesh. So, too, does it include knowing that every action of God in the flesh is governed by the Spirit, and that the words He speaks are the direct expression of the Spirit. Thus, if you wish to know the practical God, you must primarily know how God works in humanity and in divinity; this, in turn, concerns the expressions of the Spirit, which all people engage with.

The Millennial Kingdom Has Arrived

Have you seen what work God will accomplish in this group of people? God said, even in the Millennial Kingdom people must still follow His utterances onward, and in the future God’s utterances will yet directly guide man’s life in the good land of Canaan. When Moses was in the wild, God instructed and spoke to him directly. From heaven God sent food, water, and manna for the people to enjoy, and today it is still thus: God has personally sent down things to eat and drink for people to enjoy, and He has personally sent curses to chastise people. And so every step of His work is personally carried out by God. Today, people long for the occurrence of facts, they try to see signs and wonders, and it is possible that all such people will be abandoned, for the work of God is becoming increasingly real. No one knows that God has descended from heaven, they are still unaware that God has sent down food and tonics from heaven—yet God actually exists, and the warm scenes of the Millennial Kingdom that people imagine are also the personal utterances of God. This is fact, and only this is ruling with God on earth. Ruling with God on earth refers to the flesh. That which is not of the flesh is not on earth, and thus all those who focus on going to the third heaven do so in vain. One day, when the entire universe returns to God, the center of His work throughout the cosmos will follow the utterances of God; elsewhere, some people will phone, some will take a plane, some will take a boat across the sea, and some will use lasers to receive the utterances of God. Everyone will be adoring, and yearnful, they will all come close to God, and congregate toward God, and will all worship God—and all of this will be the deeds of God. Remember this! God will never start again elsewhere. God will accomplish this fact: He will make all people throughout the universe come before Him, and worship the God on earth, and His work in other places will cease, and people will be forced to seek the true way. It will be like Joseph: Everyone came to him for food, and bowed down to him, for he had things to eat. In order to avoid famine people will be forced to seek the true way. The entire religious community is suffering severe famine, and only the God of today is the wellspring of living water, possessed of the ever-flowing wellspring provided for the enjoyment of man, and people will come and depend on Him. That will be the time when the deeds of God are revealed, and God is glorified; all people throughout the universe will worship this unremarkable “man.” Will this not be the day of God’s glory? One day, old pastors will send telegrams seeking the water from the wellspring of living water. They’ll be elderly, yet still they will come to worship this man, whom they despised. In their mouths they will acknowledge and in their hearts they will be trusting—and is this not a sign and wonder? When the whole kingdom rejoices is the day of God’s glory, and whoever comes to you and receives God’s good news will be blessed by God, and these countries and these people will be blessed and cared for by God. The future direction will be thus: Those who gain the utterances from God’s mouth will have a path to walk on earth, and be they businessmen or scientists, or educators or industrialists, those who are without God’s words will have a hard time taking even a single step, and will be forced to seek the true way. This is what is meant by, “With the truth you’ll walk the entire world; without the truth, you’ll get nowhere.” The facts are thus: God will use the Way (which means all of His words) to command the whole universe and govern and conquer mankind. People are always hoping for a great turn in the means by which God works. To speak plainly, it is through words that God controls people, and you must do what He says[a] whether you wish to or not; this is an objective fact, and must be obeyed by all, and so, too, is it inexorable, and known to all.

The Commandments of the New Age

You have been told to equip yourselves with the words of God, that regardless of what is arranged for you, all is orchestrated by God’s own hand, and that there is no need for your earnest prayer or supplication—they are useless. Yet in terms of the present situation, the practical problems facing you are unimaginable to you. If you merely await the arrangements of God, your progress will be too slow, and for those who don’t know how to experience there will be much passivity. Thus, if you are unable to completely see through to these things, then you are muddled and silly in your experiencing. If you have no reality but only words, is this not a sign of erroneousness? Much erroneousness is visible in you, this group. Today, you’re incapable of achieving such trials as “service-doers,” or else are incapable of imagining or achieving other refinement related to the words of God, but you must adhere to the many things you are required to put into practice. Which is to say, people must adhere to the many duties that they should perform. This is what people should adhere to, and what they must carry out. Let the Holy Spirit do what must be done by the Holy Spirit; man can play no part in it. Man should adhere to what ought to be done by man, which bears no relation to the Holy Spirit. It is nothing but that which ought to be done by man, and should be adhered to as commandment, just like adherence to the law of the Old Testament. Although now is not the Age of Law, there are still many words of a kind with the Age of Law that should be adhered to, and they are not carried out merely by relying on being touched by the Holy Spirit, but are what should be adhered to by man. For example: You shall not pass judgment on the work of the practical God. You shall not oppose the man who is testified to by God. Before God, you shall keep your place and shall not be dissolute. You should be moderate in speech, and your words and actions must follow the arrangements of the man testified to by God. You should revere the testimony of God. You shall not ignore the work of God and the words from His mouth. You shall not imitate the tone and aims of God’s utterances. Externally, you shall not do anything that manifestly opposes the man who is testified to by God. And so on. These are what each person should adhere to. In each age, God specifies many rules that are akin to the laws and are to be adhered to by man. Through this, He constrains man’s disposition, and detects his sincerity. Take the words “Honor your father and your mother” of the Old Testament age, for example. These words do not apply today; at the time, they merely constrained some of man’s external disposition, they were used to demonstrate the sincerity of man’s belief in God, and were a mark of those who believed in God. Although now is the Age of Kingdom, there are still many rules that man must adhere to. The rules of the past don’t apply; today, there are many, more fitting practices for man to carry out, and which are necessary. They do not involve the work of the Holy Spirit and must be done by man.

How to Know Reality

God is a practical God: All of His work is practical, all of the words He speaks are practical, and all of the truths He expresses are practical. Everything that is not His words is vacuous, non-existent, and unsound. Today, the Holy Spirit is to guide people into the words of God. If people are to pursue entry into reality, then they must seek reality, and know reality, after which they must experience reality, and live out reality. The more that people know reality, the more they are able to tell whether the words of others are real; the more people know reality, the fewer conceptions they have; the more people experience reality, the more they know the deeds of the God of reality, and the easier it is for them to break free from their corrupt, satanic dispositions; the more reality people have, the more they know God, and the more they detest the flesh and love the truth; and the more reality people have, the closer they come to the standards of God’s requirements. People who are gained by God are those who are possessed of reality, who know reality, and who have come to know God’s real deeds through experiencing reality. The more actually you cooperate with God and discipline your body, the more you will acquire the work of the Holy Spirit, the more you will gain reality, and the more you will be enlightened by God—and thus the greater your knowledge of God’s real deeds. If you are able to live in the present light of the Holy Spirit, the present path to practice will become clearer to you, and you will be more able to separate yourself from the religious conceptions and old practices of the past. Today reality is the focus: The more reality people have, the clearer their knowledge of the truth, and the greater their understanding of God’s will. Reality can overcome all letters and doctrines, it can overcome all theory and expertise, and the more reality people focus on, the more they truly love God, and hunger and thirst for His words. If you always focus on reality, your life philosophy, religious conceptions, and natural character will naturally be expunged following the work of God. Those who do not pursue reality, and have no knowledge of reality, are likely to pursue that which is supernatural, and they will be easily tricked. The Holy Spirit has no means of working in such people, and so they feel vacant, and that their lives have no meaning.