Embroiled in a Spiritual Battle, I Relied on God and Overcame the Temptations of Satan (Part 2)

By Hu Yang, France

The CCP’s Lies Are Revealed and I Steadfastly Follow the Path of Belief in God

Through reading God’s words and listening to Sister Feng’s fellowship, I came to have some discernment about the deceitful schemes of Satan that lurked behind my husband’s attempts to stop me from believing in God. Sister Feng then said to me, “Sister, although your husband has promised not to try to force you to give up your belief anymore, this does not mean that he won’t oppose your belief in God again in the future. Because he has no discernment of the essence of these lies, you must help him with love to discern them, make him see the malicious intent behind the CCP’s lies and enable him to see through Satan’s deceitful schemes!”

5. Faith in God Should Not Only Be for Seeking Peace and Blessings

Relevant Words of God:

Man’s belief in God is not solely for salvation of the soul and welfare of the flesh, nor is it to enrich his life through love of God, and so on. As it stands, if you love God for the sake of welfare of the flesh or momentary pleasure, then even if, in the end, your love for God reaches its peak and you ask for nothing, this love you seek is still an impure love and not pleasing to God. Those who use love for God to enrich their dull lives and fill a void in their heart are those who seek to live in ease, not those who truly seek to love God. This kind of love is against one’s will, a pursuit of emotional pleasure, and God does not need this kind of love. What kind, then, is a love such as yours? For what do you love God? How much true love do you have for God now? The love of most among you is as previously mentioned. This kind of love can only maintain the status quo; it cannot attain eternal constancy, nor take root in man. This kind of love is that of a flower which bears no fruit after it has bloomed then withered. In other words, after you have loved God once in such a way and there is no one to lead you on the path ahead, then you will fall. If you can only love God in the times of loving God and you make no changes to your life disposition afterward, then you will continue to be shrouded by the influence of darkness, unable to escape, and still unable to break free from being bound and fooled by Satan. No such man can be fully gained by God; in the end, their spirit, soul, and body will still belong to Satan. This is unquestionable. All those who cannot be fully gained by God will return to their original place, that is, back to Satan, and they will go down to the lake that burns with fire and brimstone to accept the next step of punishment from God. Those gained by God are those who rebel against Satan and escape from its domain. Such men will be officially numbered among the people of the kingdom. This is how the people of the kingdom come to be.

from “What Viewpoint Believers Ought to Hold” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

We Can Only Enter the Kingdom of Heaven by Doing God’s Will (Part Two)

By Xinshou, United States

After Sister Li listened, she smiled and said, “Thanks be to God, you’ve asked a critical question! Whether we can become people who do the Father’s will is directly related to our own endings and destination, and fellowship on this question is very necessary! In the last days, the returned Lord Jesus, who is Almighty God, has already revealed the truth and mysteries surrounding this question to us. First, let’s read several passages of Almighty God’s word!” After she spoke, Sister Li opened a book of God’s word and began to read, “A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance” (“Concerning Appellations and Identity” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

4. How Can You Tell the Difference Between the True and False Ways, and Between True and False Churches?

Relevant Words of God:

What is the most basic principle in seeking the true way? You have to look at whether or not there is the work of the Holy Spirit in this way, whether or not these words are the expression of the truth, who is testified to, and what it can bring you. Distinguishing between the true way and the false way requires several aspects of basic knowledge, the most fundamental of which is to tell whether or not there is the work of the Holy Spirit. For the substance of man’s belief in God is the belief in the Spirit of God, and even his belief in God incarnate is because this flesh is the embodiment of the Spirit of God, which means that such belief is still the belief in the Spirit. There are differences between the Spirit and the flesh, but because this flesh comes from the Spirit, and is the Word become flesh, thus what man believes in is still the inherent substance of God. And so, in distinguishing whether or not it is the true way, above all you must look at whether or not there is the work of the Holy Spirit, after which you must look at whether or not there is the truth in this way. This truth is the life disposition of normal humanity, which is to say, that which was required of man when God created him in the beginning, namely, all of normal humanity (including human sense, insight, wisdom, and the basic knowledge of being man). That is, you need to look at whether or not this way can take man into a life of normal humanity, whether or not the truth that is spoken of is required according to the reality of normal humanity, whether or not this truth is practical and real, and whether or not it is most timely. If there is truth, then it is able to take man into normal and real experiences; man, furthermore, becomes ever more normal, man’s human sense becomes ever more complete, man’s life in the flesh and the spiritual life become ever more orderly, and man’s emotions become ever more normal. This is the second principle. There is one other principle, which is whether or not man has an increasing knowledge of God, whether or not experiencing such work and truth can inspire a love of God in him, and bring him ever closer to God. In this can be measured whether or not it is the true way. Most fundamental is whether this way is realistic rather than supernatural, and whether or not it is able to provide the life of man. If it conforms to these principles, the conclusion can be drawn that this way is the true way. … If it is the work of the Holy Spirit, man becomes ever more normal, and his humanity becomes ever more normal. Man has an increasing knowledge of his satanic corrupt disposition, and of the essence of man, and he has an ever greater longing for the truth. That is to say, the life of man grows and grows, and the corrupt disposition of man becomes capable of more and more changes—all of which is the meaning of God becoming the life of man. If a way is incapable of revealing those things that are the essence of man, is incapable of changing the disposition of man, and, moreover, is incapable of bringing him before God or giving him a true understanding of God, and even causes his humanity to become ever more lowly and his sense ever more abnormal, then this way must not be the true way, and it may be the work of an evil spirit, or the old way. In short, it cannot be the present work of the Holy Spirit.

from “Only Those Who Know God and His Work Can Satisfy God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Chapter 1 You Must Know That Almighty God Is the One True God Who Created the Heavens and the Earth and Everything in Them

3. Salvation Can Only Come Through Belief in Almighty God

Relevant Words of God:

When Jesus came into the world of man, He brought the Age of Grace and ended the Age of Law. During the last days, God once more became flesh, and when He became flesh this time, He ended the Age of Grace and brought the Age of Kingdom. All those who accept the second incarnation of God will be led into the Age of Kingdom, and be able to personally accept the guidance of God. Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God has returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment, and this work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.

from Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh

Sermons and Fellowship About God’s Word “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life”

124-A-2

The text containing the words of God entitled, “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” that we just finished is the truth pertaining to the vision. What we get first from reading God’s words should be the knowledge of Christ. In what primary respect do we know Christ? Not only do we know that Christ is the incarnate God, and that Christ is the manifestation of God, but the most importantly we should be aware that, “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life,” which is what matters most. Many have understood and admitted the fact that God has become flesh, and admitted that Christ is the real God, God’s appearance to mankind—they have confirmed this as a fact. Many people are able to follow Christ, to forsake all and do their duty to Him, which is a fact; but after years have gone by, there are those out there who are still not with the truth. Theirs is an evil heart, one that does not fear God and shun evil. So what exactly is the problem? Where is the root of it? We have read these words of God, and should see the root of the problem is that these people do not have profound understanding that “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life.” In the last days Christ came again to do the work of judgment, exactly what will be the fruits? When you have experienced the judgment before the seat of Christ, have you been made pure? Have you obtained the truth? Have you been saved? This is the fundamental question with belief in God. A lot of people, who have believed in God for many years, are still without the truth. So exactly what is the problem? Have you figured it out yet? Can these people be counted with those who actually know Christ? No, they cannot. If they do not know Christ, then are they someone who can be said to be a true believer in God? Their faith remains vague. It is almost as if they actually believe in the God of heaven. So today we will commune about the key questions in these words of God. For we believers in God, what exactly are God’s words expressed by Christ that make the truth known? If you have truly seen such a way of eternal life that Christ of the last days has given mankind, then you should be able to go in search of the truth, or at least, to accept it in part. He who is ignorant of the truth Christ has passed on to us cannot receive it, so if people have been believers in God for many years but have not gained the truth, this is a truly serious issue. We’ve finished reading this article of God’s words. Now, if I fellowship about it all the way from the beginning, then we will probably at most fellowship about one passage, and then our meeting will be over. But if the focal point of our fellowship is on the actual problems themselves, then everyone here will benefit from it to a much greater extent. So let us read now from the word of God.

Question 6: The CCP is an atheist party, a demonic group that is most hostile to God and the truth. The demon is the personification of Satan. The reincarnation of Satan and evil spirits is demon, the sworn enemy of God. Therefore, when God appears in the flesh and works in China in the last days, the insane suppression and persecution He encounters from the CCP government, it is inevitable. But the majority of the pastors and elders in the religious community are servants of God who are familiar with the Bible. Not only do they not seek and study Almighty God’s work in the last days, they judge, condemn and frantically resist instead. This is incredible! It is not surprising that the CCP government condemns God’s work. Why do the religious pastors and elders resist and condemn God’s work too?

Answer: God has become flesh twice. Twice He encountered the collective resistance, condemnation and persecution of the religious community and the world’s governments. This proves that “The true way has been persecuted since ancient times.” Many people cannot discern this matter. They particularly feel incredible about the religious leaders’ frantic condemnation of God’s work. Actually, there is nothing strange about this. Back then, when the Lord Jesus appeared to work, He was first frantically condemned, blasphemed and arrested by the chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of Judaism. These facts were clearly written in the Bible. Those chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees, were supposed to teach the Bible and serve God. Why did they condemn, persecute, and hunt the incarnate Lord Jesus? Could it be that their belief in God was intended to crucify the Lord Jesus when He came? Absolutely not! Why did they commit such acts against God? Yeah, why did they? Almighty God has revealed the mystery here. Let’s read a few passages of Almighty God’s word.

Question 8: For 2,000 years, the religious world has upheld the belief that “the Bible is given by inspiration of God, that it is all God's word”, so the Bible represents the Lord. Those who deny that the Bible is given by inspiration of God and is His word will definitely be condemned and labeled as heretics by the religious world. Is my understanding of this wrong?

Answer: Many people of the religious world believe all the Bible is given by inspiration of God, and is all the word of God. This is clearly a faulty notion! All the epistles and the experiences and testimonies of the apostles contained within the Bible clearly state the author. The Bible is clearly written by people of different ages. How could their testimonies of experience be construed as the word of God? If we go by the religious world’s thinking, the writers of the Bible clearly are all men, but somehow their words become the words of God. What kind of logic is this? The essence of God and that of man are fundamentally different, only God can speak God’s word. And man can only speak human word. If we insist that the word of man is actually God’s word, so let me ask, were all the authors of the Bible God? Who can bear witness to that? Did they claim that they were God? Did they claim that all their words were given by inspiration of God? What do you say to this question? If you claim they were all God, this is in clear contradiction to the facts, because there is only one God. Also, clearly they’re all men, but you insist that they are actually God. This is blasphemous toward God! This is a deadly sin! If you accept that they are all men, but still maintain that their words are all the words of God, this is a distortion of the facts and a misrepresentation. This amounts to opposition to God and blasphemy of Him! Because, within the Bible, apart from Moses and the prophets, none of the other authors were instructed by God to convey God’s word. They also never claimed to have the inspiration of God in their writing. If one has no such evidence but claims that these men were speaking the word of God, he’s just shamelessly spouting off nonsense. The authors of the Old and New Testaments were all men used by God. They, experienced the work of God at that time. They had some knowledge of God, and held some burden in their hearts. They set their experiences and testimonies to writing and spread them to the saints of the churches. This is fact. But there were some who felt that these experiences and testimonies was particularly edifying much higher than the testimonies and experiences of the common man, and as a result they mistakenly began to blindly follow and worship them, thinking that their words must have issued from God, because the average person would be incapable of writing such things, so these fallacies and false notions came into being, and these fallacies and false notions spread far and wide and were adopted by many people. In the end, they became conceptions of religious people. The damage caused by all this is nearly inestimable. If Almighty God had not come, who would have realized all this? Despite the fact that many say that all things should be in accord with the Bible and the word of God, no one actually tries to discern all this according to God’s words, and, even more so, no one tries to seek the truth and scrutinize the facts with regard to this issue.

Question 4: You have testified that the incarnate Almighty God has expressed millions of words and performed His work of judgment beginning from the house of God. This clearly exceeds the Bible. The pastors and leaders used to often tell us that all of God’s word and work is in the Bible. There is no word and work of God outside of the Bible. The salvation work of the Lord Jesus has already been completed. The Lord’s return in the last days will be to take believers directly up into the kingdom of heaven. So all along, we’ve believed that belief in the Lord must be based on the Bible. As long as we stick to the Bible we will be able to enter the kingdom of heaven and receive eternal life. Moving away from the Bible is leaving the Lord’s way. It’s resisting Him and betraying Him. What could be wrong with that?

Answer: In religion, all those who believe in the Lord think that all of God’s word and work is contained in the Bible. God’s salvation in the Bible is complete, and there is no word and work of God outside of the Bible. Belief in the Lord is to be based on the Bible and sticking to the Bible. As long as we don’t leave the Bible, when the Lord comes we will be taken up into the kingdom of heaven. Such a viewpoint might conform with people’s notions and imaginations, but is it based on the words of the Lord Jesus? Can you guarantee it conforms with the truth? The Lord Jesus has never said that God’s word and work are all recorded in the Bible, that there is no word and work of God outside of the Bible. This is true. People who understand the Bible all know that the Bible was put together by mankind many years after God’s work. God’s work came first, and then the Bible. In other words, every time God completed a stage of His work, those who experienced God’s work would record down God’s word and work from that time, and these records were compiled by people into the Bible. When we think about it, how could the work God has not yet done be compiled into the Bible in advance? God’s judgment work of the last days, in particular, could not possibly have been recorded in the Bible. The New and Old Testaments have been part of the Bible for nearly 2000 years. Almighty God has only just started His judgment work of the last days. Therefore, the word and work of God in the last days could not possibly have been recorded in the Bible thousands of years ago. Isn’t that a fact? In the last days, Almighty God has performed the work of judgment beginning from the house of God, expressing several million words. These words are all truths that purify and save mankind, and are the way to eternal life brought by Christ of the last days. They have already been compiled into the Bible of the Age of Kingdom. This is the book, “The Word Appears in the Flesh.” Though the truths expressed by Almighty God were not recorded in the Bible in advance, they have completely fulfilled the Lord Jesus’ prophecies. “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth …” (Jhn 16:12-13). “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches” (Rev 2:17). The truth expressed by Almighty God has completely verified that Almighty God is the embodiment of the Spirit of truth. He is the incarnate God. All words expressed by Almighty God, that is, the expressions of the Spirit of truth in the last days, are words from the Holy Spirit to the churches. Do we dare say these are not the words of God? Do we still dare deny this? If we see the reality of God’s speaking and working in the last days, would we still say all of God’s words are recorded in the Bible and that there is no word and work of God outside of the Bible? We don’t understand the inside story of how the Bible was formed. We don’t know the fact that the Bible was formed only after God completed each stage of His work, and yet we arbitrarily conclude and determine that there is no word and work of God outside of the Bible. Aren’t we quite arbitrary and absurd? If we do not understand how the Bible was formed and its inside story, it can be very easy to deviate on the path to believing in God. In fact, during the two stages of God’s work in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace, all of the words expressed by God were not completely recorded in the Bible. For instance, in the Age of Law, there were some prophets whose prophecies were not recorded in the Bible. In the Age of Grace, there were even more words spoken by the Lord Jesus. But the words recorded in the Bible are too limited. Just think. The Lord Jesus preached on earth for three-and-a-half years. How many words would He have spoken each day? How many words would He have spoken each sermon? There were way too many sermons and words spoken by the Lord Jesus in those three-and-a-half years. There is no way anyone would be able to calculate it. Just as John the Apostle said: “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (Jhn 21:25). Let’s now look at the Four New Testament Gospels. The words of the Lord Jesus recorded in these are too limited! It’s only the tip of the iceberg! If the Lord Jesus had only said those few words in the Four Gospels during those three-and-a-half years, how would He have been able to conquer the people who followed Him at the time? How would the work of the Lord Jesus have been able to shake up all of Judea? Therefore, it is certain that the words of God recorded in the Bible contain only a very limited portion, certainly not all the words spoken by God during His work. This is a fact nobody can deny! We all know that God is the Lord of creation, the source of mankind’s life, the wellspring of living water that never runs dry. God’s richness is inexhaustible in supply and always available for use, whereas the Bible is merely a record of the first two stages of God’s work. The amount of God’s word that is recorded is far too limited. It’s like a drop in the sea of God’s life. How could we delimit God’s word and work to just the Bible? It’s as though God could only say those limited words in the Bible. Isn’t this delimiting, belittling and blaspheming God? Therefore, to delimit all of God’s word and work to the Bible and to think that there is no word and work of God outside of the Bible is a major mistake!

Question 2: Paul made it very clear in (2Ti 3:16) “the entire Bible is inspired by God”, so that all words in the Bible are God's words, and that the Bible represents God, We are going by Paul's words. How can this be wrong?

Answer: Many people in religious circles believe that the Bible is inspired by God. They believe what Paul said about this. But no one investigates whether Paul had any basis for this statement. They have such a view all because they worship Paul too much and have too much blind faith in Paul. Has anyone considered whether Paul’s statement conforms with God’s word? Is it supported by the words of the Lord Jesus? Are there words of the Holy Spirit as proof? People use Paul’s words to blindly conclude that the Bible is entirely inspired by God. Does this conform with the Lord’s word, conform with the truth? If this statement by Paul is corroborated by the words of the Lord Jesus or the Holy Spirit, then we should accept and obey that, which is completely in line with the Lord’s intentions. But we all know very clearly that Paul used to resist God and oppose the Lord Jesus. It’s a recognized fact that he was the ringleader of the opposition against the Lord Jesus’ work. Even though the Lord Jesus chose Paul as an apostle to spread the gospel, Paul is still a created creature. Therefore, his words are undoubtedly all the words of a man. The Lord Jesus is God, while all of the Lord Jesus’ apostles and disciples are men. The apostles and disciples of the Lord Jesus cannot be compared to the Lord Jesus Himself. If they are not supported by the words of the Lord Jesus or the Holy Spirit, then no matter what man says, we cannot accept them blindly. Otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable. Thinking back to the time when the Pharisees resisted and condemned the Lord Jesus, many people rejected the Lord Jesus because they followed the Pharisees. They were eliminated and condemned precisely because they resisted the Lord Jesus. Have we not absorbed these lessons? Actually, in the Bible, only the words of Jehovah God, the words spoken by the Lord Jesus, the words of the Holy Spirit, the words of God conveyed by the prophets, and the prophecies in the Book of Revelation, are God’s word. Apart from that, it’s all the records and letters of man. These all count as testimonies of God’s work and have a need to be recorded in the Bible, but we must not treat man’s words as the word of God. Man’s words are man’s words, and only God’s words are truly the word of God. If we insist that the words of man and Satan in the Bible are the word of God, then that’s slandering and blaspheming God! Therefore, the saying that “All scripture is inspired by God and is all the word of God”, does not conform with the facts.

Question 2: Having believed in the Lord for so many years, we have always felt that as long as one can practice humility, tolerance and love brothers and sisters, and can follow the example of Paul by expending and laboring for the Lord, he is following the way of the Lord, and he will be raptured into the kingdom of heaven when the Lord returns. Just as Paul said, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness …” (2Ti 4:7-8). But you have witnessed that when we believe in the Lord, we must receive the judgment work of Almighty God in the last days. When we receive cleansing, we will be commended by God and admitted in the kingdom of heaven. I have a question: We believe in the Lord for so many years, and we expend and labor for the Lord; can we enter the kingdom of heaven without receiving the judgment work of Almighty God in the last days?

Answer: Many believers of the Lord feel that following the example of Paul by expending and laboring for the Lord is the same as following the Lord's way and qualifying for admission to the kingdom of heaven when the Lord returns. This has become the conception of many people. Is this conception based on the Lord's word? Does it please the Lord's heart if we pursue it like this? Are we truly following the Lord's way by laboring for the Lord like Paul? Will we qualify for the kingdom of heaven? The Lord Jesus said, “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” (Mat 7:21-23). The Lord Jesus said it very clearly. Only those who follow the will of God could enter the kingdom of heaven. The Lord Jesus did not say those who sacrifice, expend, and labor for the Lord could enter the kingdom of heaven. Many of those who preach, cast out devils, and work wonders in the name of the Lord are people who labor. Not only are they not praised by the Lord, they are professed by the Lord as workers of iniquity. Paul said, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: From now on there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness …” (2Ti 4:7-8). This saying contradicts the word of the Lord Jesus. It is fundamentally incompatible with the intention of the Lord. To be brought into the kingdom of heaven, there is only one affirmed way, which is what the Lord Jesus had clearly said: “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Mat 25:6). "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Rev 3:20). “To sup with the Lord” refers to receiving God’s judgment work in the last days. By receiving the judgment and chastisement of God, we understand all the truths and are cleansed and made perfect, these are the results of supping with the Lord. So we can be certain that only by receiving cleansing from the judgment and chastisement of Almighty God in the last days can one enter the kingdom of heaven.

Question 1: We have believed in the Lord for so many years. Although we can preach and work for the Lord and suffer a lot, we can still always lie, deceive and defraud. Every day, we speak in defense of ourselves. So often, we are arrogant, opinionated, ostentatious, and condescending to others. We live under the situation of sinning and repenting, unable to escape the binding of the flesh, let alone experience and practice the Lord's word. We haven’t lived out any reality of the Lord’s word. In our case, can we be brought into the kingdom of heaven at all? Some people say, no matter how we sin, how we are bound by the flesh, the Lord sees us as sinless. They go by Paul's word: “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (1Co 15:52). And assume that the Lord will instantly change our form when He comes and bring us into the kingdom of heaven. Some people believe that those who receive salvation by faith but still constantly sin are unqualified to enter the kingdom of heaven. It is mainly based on God’s word: “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” (Mat 7:21). “… you shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Lev 11:45). These are two competing viewpoints that no one can say clearly, please communicate for us.

Answer: In the past, we used to treat the words of apostles like Paul as the word of God and go by Paul's word to believe in the Lord and work for the Lord. We went by Paul’s word even with the matter of the Lord’s return, but cast aside the Lord Jesus’ word. Wasn’t this a problem after all? When we believe in God, should we listen to the word of God or man? As for the word of Paul in the Bible, was it the word of God or man? As far as how to distinguish whether it is the word of God or man, let us first set it aside. But we can be certain that the words of Jehovah and the Lord Jesus in the Bible are the words of God. No one can deny this. The words of apostles like Paul were definitely the words of man. Even with the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, those were still the words of man, absolutely not the word of God. It is because neither the Lord Jesus nor the Holy Spirit had witnessed that the word of apostles, like Paul, was the word of God. Even the apostles themselves did not say what they had written was the word of God. Isn’t this the fact? The words of man in the Bible are the words of man and cannot be regarded as the word of God, let alone be used as the basis as if they were God’s word because some of man’s words originated from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit while some were mixed with human will. They were not the expression of the truth. If we treat the word of man as the truth, it is easy to cause confusion and lead to nowhere for man. Why did thousands of denominations appear throughout the religious community? The root cause is because man has interpreted the word of man in the Bible as the word of God, giving rise to such serious confusion. About the matter of entering into the kingdom of heaven, we should only go by the Lord Jesus’ word as final because the Lord Jesus is the incarnate Christ. Only the Lord Jesus is the Savior. The word of the Lord Jesus is the truth. Only the word of the Lord Jesus has authority. Paul was only a man. He was not Christ. He could not express the truth. So it was unavoidable that his word was blended with man’s will and imagination. Even Paul dared not say his word was inspired by God, not to mention his letters being the word of God. Wouldn’t it be absurd if we regard the word of Paul as God’s word? So whether we are obedient to God’s will or qualified to be brought into the kingdom of heaven or not, we should go by the Lord Jesus’ word alone for introspection and pursuit of the truth in order to find the right answer.

Question (1): You witness that the Lord Jesus has returned, and that He has appeared and worked in China, I believe that it is true because this is what the Lord Jesus had prophesied in the Bible: “For as the lightning comes out of the east, and shines even to the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be” (Mat 24:27). But we think that the Lord will return in the last days to bring us into the kingdom of heaven, or at least He should lift us to the clouds to meet with Him in the air. Just as Paul said in the Bible, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1Ts 4:17). But why hasn't the Lord come as described in the Bible? What does Almighty God's judgment work in the last days have to do with us being brought into the kingdom of heaven?

Answer: Many people believe that when the Lord returns, He will lift the believers in the air to meet with them. What you are saying is based on the word of Paul, not of the Lord. We have no way of telling whether Paul’s word was from the idea of man or the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment. This was what the Lord Jesus said in prophesying His return: “But of that day and hour knows no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” (Mat 24:36). The Lord said it very clearly. When He returns, no one will know. Other than God, not even the angels will know. According to your idea, those who believe in the Lord would be lifted in the air to meet Him in the cloud. Is there any basis for this in God’s words? If you go by Paul’s word instead of the Lord’s word, then you are utterly wrong! Paul was only a man; he did not represent the Lord Jesus. How could he know that the Lord would lift His believers to the clouds when He returns? What was the basis of Paul’s word? Do we have to wait for the Lord’s return according to Paul’s words? Why don't we welcome the Lord according to the Lord Jesus’ word? This was what the Lord Jesus said in prophesying His return: “If therefore you shall not watch, I will come on you as a thief, and you shall not know what hour I will come on you” (Rev 3:3). What does it mean when someone only goes by Paul’s word but not the Lord Jesus’ word in believing in the Lord? Does it mean that Paul was the Lord and Christ? So whom do you believe in after all, Paul or the Lord Jesus? Isn’t this worthy of our rumination? The Lord’s second coming is to receive the saints into the kingdom of heaven. This is for certain. But no one can guess actually how the Lord will receive His followers into the kingdom of heaven. If we went by the concepts and imagination of man to understand it, assuming that the Lord would take people into the air to meet with them, that would be too unrealistic. We have all seen that Almighty God appears in China in the last days and expresses all kinds of truths for the cleansing and salvation of man; He is in the process of cleansing and making perfect all the wise virgins brought before His throne. God is determined to make this group of people overcomers before the catastrophe arrives. After making a group of overcomers, God unleashes the catastrophe to destroy this evil mankind that insanely resists God. After the catastrophe, God will appear to all peoples and all nations. Isn't this the real process of how the Lord will bring His followers into the kingdom of Christ upon His return? I feel that Almighty God’s work in the last days has completely fulfilled the prophecies of the Lord Jesus. “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (Jhn 14:2-3). Since the Lord is already here on earth, yet we still want to go up in the sky, aren’t we going in the wrong direction? Since the Lord has come to earth, God has also predetermined for us to be born in the last days, to be brought before His throne, receive His work of judgment in the last days, be cleansed and made perfect by Him and finally enter the kingdom of Christ. What kind of a place has the Lord prepared for us? This refers to the kingdom of Christ being realized on earth, fulfilling the prophecy “that where I am, there you may be also.” This proves that when the Lord returns in the last days, He will come into His kingdom. God’s work of judgment that begins with the house of God is to make a group of overcomers out of the wise virgins who are the first to receive God’s work in the last days and then He’ll openly appear by descending on a cloud. Thus the kingdom of Christ is realized on earth. The fact of God’s work in the last days completely fulfills the prophecies of the Lord Jesus. Only through experiencing God’s judgment work in the last days can we see the fulfillment of the prophecies in the Bible. Relying on man’s notions and imagination to speculate on the prophecies is foolish and absurd! We should go by God’s word, not man’s, to meet the Lord’s return. If we go by man’s word, we will miss the chance of rapture at the Lord’s coming, unable to meet Him. We will have only ourselves to blame.

from the movie Screenplay of My Dream Of The Heavenly Kingdom

Question 3: You say only those who obey the will of God receive the way of everlasting life. After we started believing in the Lord, we suffered and paid a price to spread the Lord’s gospel. We’ve shepherded the Lord’s flock, taken up the cross and followed the Lord, practiced humbleness, patience, and tolerance. Are you saying we haven’t been following God’s will? We know if we continue, we will become holy, and be raptured to the kingdom of heaven. Is this way of understanding and practice wrong?

Answer: You have the notion that if you labor, sacrifice, or do good deeds, you are obeying God’s will. But are these imagined notions of yours after God’s heart? Do they have a basis in God’s word? Let’s see what the Lord Jesus said: The Lord Jesus said: “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” (Mat 7: 21-23). From the Lord Jesus’ words we can see that those who prophesy, cast out devils, and do many wonderful works in His name are the ones who suffer and do works for the Lord. They serve God, devote all their time to Him, and have many good behaviors. But, why does the Lord Jesus call them those who work iniquity? How should we understand this? By your notions, any who suffer and do work for the Lord and spend and sacrifice for Him are obeying God’s will. The chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees in Judaism also appeared to be very pious. They traveled far and wide to preach the gospel. So why did the Lord Jesus condemn and curse them? That’s something worth reflecting on, isn’t it? We can’t determine obedience to God’s will using the notions of man. True obedience to God’s will refers to people who can obey God’s work and words, practice God’s words, follow God’s commandments, and fulfill their duties according to God’s will and requirements. You say any who suffer and do work for the Lord are obeying God’s will. Then let’s evaluate them using the Lord Jesus’ requirements. What was the Lord Jesus’ most important requirement for man? “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like to it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mat 22:37-39). But are we doing this? Obeying God’s will means loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind. No matter how much work we do, or how much we suffer, there must be no personal ambition or impurity, we must be devoted purely to obeying and satisfying God, to carrying out God’s will. We must be happy to sacrifice everything for God, without demand for recompense. In the face of trials and tribulation from God, we must not complain or betray Him, and put ourselves at the mercy of God’s arrangements. Like Abraham, Job, and Peter, when God’s trials come, we must accept with utter obedience and without complaint or question, and bear good and resounding testimony for God. This is obedience to God’s will. Given those demands, it should be obvious whether or not we are people who truly obey the heavenly Father’s will.

Question 2: The Lord Jesus and Almighty God are the same God, but do different work in different ages. The Lord Jesus did the work of redemption, and preached the way of repentance. In the last days, Almighty God does the work of judging and purifying mankind, and brings them the way of everlasting life. I still have another question, what is the difference between the way of repentance and the way of eternal life?

Answer: There is only one God, and His work of saving mankind can’t be done in one or two stages. Because there are three stages of work in God’s management plan to save mankind, the truth expressed by God in each stage is different, and gradually deepens, so that in the end it becomes perfect. God does different work across the ages based on the needs of man at the time, so the way God gives to man in each age is different. Knowing the difference between the way of repentance and the way of eternal life is very important. It is a truth every true believer in God must understand, because it’s related to how we know the truth and gain eternal life. Now we all know that the Lord Jesus did the work of redemption in the Age of Grace, and gave man the way of repentance. As the Lord Jesus said: “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mat 4:17). Which is to say, man should confess his sins and repent before God if he wants to enter the kingdom of heaven. After man confesses previous sins, such sins will be forgiven. Man will no longer sin, repent and be born again. This is repentance. But at that time, the Lord Jesus only taught man to confess his sins and repent, not to commit sins, not to do evil, to deny himself, take up the cross, and follow the Lord, to love the Lord with all his heart, his soul, and his mind, to love others as himself, with humility, forbearance and patience, and to forgive others seventy times seven and so on. These are the ways for man to repent. When man confesses his sins and repents before the Lord Jesus, these sins will be forgiven, which qualifies man to pray before God and fellowship with Him, and enjoy the bountiful grace and truth given by God. But what we can’t deny is that even if man’s sins are forgiven, his sinful nature still exists, and he can still sin, oppose and betray God. This proves that though man’s sins can be forgiven, he can still sin, and can’t escape the satanic disposition to attain purification. The Lord Jesus only did the work of redemption, which merely allows man to confess his sins, repent, return to God, and enjoy the grace given by God. This shows that the truth expressed by the Lord Jesus is the way for man to repent. Just as Almighty God says: “At the time, Jesus only spoke to His disciples a series of sermons in the Age of Grace, such as how to practice, how to gather together, how to ask in prayer, how to treat others, and so forth. The work He carried out was that of the Age of Grace, and He expounded only on how the disciples and those who followed Him ought to practice. He did only the work of the Age of Grace and none of the last days. … The work of God in each age has clear boundaries; He does only the work of the current age and never does He carry out the next stage of work in advance. Only in this way can His representative work of each age be brought to the fore. Jesus had spoken only of the signs of the last days, of how to be patient and how to be saved, how to repent and confess, as well as how to bear the cross and endure suffering; never did He speak of what man in the last days should enter into or how to seek to satisfy God’s will” (“How Can Man Who Has Defined God in His Conceptions Receive the Revelations of God?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “The sins of man could be forgiven through the sin offering, but as for just how man can be made to sin no more, and how his sinful nature may be extirpated completely and transformed, he has no way of solving this problem. The sins of man were forgiven, and this is because of the work of God’s crucifixion, but man continued to live within the corrupt satanic disposition of old. This being so, man must be completely saved from his corrupt satanic disposition, so that his sinful nature may be completely extirpated, never to develop again, thus enabling the disposition of man to be transformed. This would require man to grasp the path of growth in life, to grasp the way of life, and to grasp the way to change his disposition. Furthermore, it would require man to act in accordance with this path, so that his disposition may gradually be changed and he may live under the shining of the light, so that all that he does may be in accord with the will of God, so that he may cast away his corrupt satanic disposition, and so that he may break free from Satan’s influence of darkness, thereby emerging fully from sin. Only then will man receive complete salvation” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). The words of Almighty God clearly tell us that the Lord Jesus did the work of redemption, and what He gave us was only the way of repentance, but He didn’t give man the way of everlasting life to cast off his satanic nature and attain purification. So, in the last days, Almighty God has come, and on the foundation of the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption, He has done the work of “judgment beginning at the house of God” and gives us the way of everlasting life. Only by accepting the way of everlasting life given by Almighty God in the last days can we become obedient to the will of God, completely escape the dark influence of Satan, reach salvation, and enter the kingdom of God.

In the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, Do You Know What God’s Hidden Intention Is?

Chengxin

One evening, as I sat at my desk after praying to God, I read the parable told by Jesus in Matthew 20:1-16, where the kingdom of heaven is likened to a landowner hiring workers for his vineyard, and it didn’t matter whether they went first thing in the morning or if it was in the noon or the afternoon that they went into the vineyard, their wages were all the same. When the workers who came first learned of this, they grumbled against the landowner, but the landowner replied by saying: “Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own? Is your eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen” (Mat 20:15-16). After reading these several lines of scripture from the Bible I knitted my brows and could not help but think: “It is reasonable to say that those who practice their faith in God for a long time, who forsake more and expend themselves more for the Lord and who toil and work for more years ought to be rewarded with more than those who come later, but in Scripture it says that the wages are the same for those who come early and those who come late, isn’t this God intentionally showing favoritism for those who come later?” I felt that I really didn’t understand these words, I didn’t understand what the Lord’s intention was in saying these words.

3 Must-Knows for How to Deal With Depression

Editor’s Note: In recent years, depression has snuck into our lives, affecting more and more people. Many are tormented by this disease—some lose their hope in life and live in pain, and some even lose their courage to go on living, choosing to commit suicide to end their own lives. Why is it that people experience depression? How should we deal with it, and how can we get out of the trap of depression?

Back From the Brink

By Zhao Guangming, China

At the beginning of the 1980s, I was in my 30s and was working for an architectural design company. I considered myself to be young and fit, treated people with loyalty and respect, and did my work responsibly. My architect skills were also top-notch, and I was sure that I was going places in the company and that once my career really took off I would be living like a prince. This was my goal and so I stayed with the company and worked hard for many years. But despite my impeccable caliber, in both character and professional skills, my efforts never seemed to be recognized by the company, which is something I never understood. The top salary grade in our company was grade 6, but my salary never got above grade 3. I watched a number of colleagues, who had neither my skills nor my time served in the company, get pay raises, but it never happened to me. I was puzzled and resentful about why they got raises and I didn’t. Finally, one of the colleagues who I got along with quite well gave me a tip: “In this company, the most important thing is to butter up the manager by giving him gifts at Chinese New Year and other festivals.” On hearing this, I finally understood the real reason why I had been overlooked by the company, and the injustice of it made me furious. But although I hated those ass kissers in the company, and had even less time for the colleagues who did little work but still got ahead by using underhand methods, I needed to firm up my standing and so I had to adapt to these unwritten rules. So the next time Chinese New Year came along I “expressed my heartfelt good wishes” to the manager and was immediately promoted to team leader.

39. What are the differences between dispositional change and good behavior?

Relevant Words of God:

A transformation in disposition mainly refers to a transformation in your nature. Nature is not something you can see from outside behaviors; nature directly involves the worth and significance of people’s existence. It directly involves the values of human life, the things deep within the soul, and the essence of people. If people couldn’t accept the truth, then they would have no transformations in these aspects. Only if people have experienced God’s work and have fully entered into the truth, changed their values and outlooks on existence and life, viewed things the same way as God, and become capable of completely submitting and devoting themselves to God can their dispositions be said to have changed. You may appear to put forth some effort, you might be resilient in the face of hardships, you might be able to carry out the work arrangements from the above, or you might be able to go wherever you are told to go, but these are only small changes in your actions, and they are not enough to be a transformation in your disposition. You might be able to run down many paths, and you might be able to suffer many hardships and endure great humiliation; you might feel very close to God, and the Holy Spirit is working in you, but when God requests you to do something that doesn’t conform to your notions, you still don’t submit, you look for excuses, and you rebel against and resist God, even to the point that you blame God and protest against Him. This is a serious problem! This proves that you still have a nature to resist God and that you have not transformed in the slightest degree.

from “What You Should Know About Transforming Your Disposition” in Records of Christ’s Talks

35. Why will God place those who refuse to accept Almighty God into the disasters?

Relevant Words of God:

All those that I love will surely live for eternity, and all those who stand against Me will surely be chastised by Me for eternity. For I am a jealous God, I will not lightly spare men for all that they have done. I will watch over the whole earth, and, appearing in the East of the world with righteousness, majesty, wrath, and chastisement, I will reveal Myself to the myriad hosts of humanity!

from “The Twenty-sixth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh