2 Why We Should Pay Attention to Knowing Ourselves

Gan’en  Luoyang City, Henan Province

In the course of our believing in God, many of us brothers and sisters pay attention only to working and performing duties, and very few of us pay attention to knowing ourselves. Many times when we fellowship in a meeting about the topic concerning knowing ourselves, some brothers and sisters have questions and resistance in their heart: Since we believe in God, we just believe in God. If I am assigned to do hosting, I will do hosting; if I am assigned to preach the gospel, I will preach the gospel. I will do whatever I am assigned to do and practice in whatever way I am required to practice. I submit to the arrangements of God’s family and also perform my duty. Isn’t it good enough if I do not make mistakes in performing my duty? Why always fellowship about knowing ourselves? What is knowing myself to do with my believing in God? Can I do well in believing in God if I know myself? Even some leaders also think: The work arrangements have stated the principles of all aspects of the work very clearly. Isn’t it good enough if we do not work against the work arrangements but carry out the work according to the requirements in them without changing them? Why must we know ourselves?

22 It Is Very Important to Know the States of the “Hidden” Passivity

Wu Ming    Heze City, Shandong Province

We often have some passive states within us. For example, some people become passive because they are short of money; some become passive because the day of God has not come after so long a time; some become passive because they achieve no results in their work; some become passive because they have been pruned and dealt with; some become passive because they see that they remain unchanged; some become passive because they have serious transgressions and are worried that they cannot be saved; and so on. All these are common passive states in us. As to such obvious passive states that can restrain us from performing our duties properly, usually most of us can realize them and can pay attention to looking for the roots and resolving them through eating and drinking the relevant words of God. However, we also have a kind of extremely harmful passivity, the hidden passivity, in us, which seriously hinders our life entering. With such passivity, we appear to be in a normal state on the surface, and it does not seem to restrain us from performing our duties, nor does it cause us to do things of obviously resisting God and rebelling against God. Thus, we cannot discover it easily, nor can we discern it very easily. We can say that, for those who do not pay attention to the detailed experiences, who do not treat their life entering seriously, and who do not measure and examine themselves strictly against God’s word, it is very difficult to discern such an abnormal state. As it is said in the man’s fellowship attached to Christ’s Talks with Church Leaders and Workers: “Another kind of passivity cannot be discerned easily. They seem to be in a normal state. On the surface, they have the normal church life, perform their duties properly, and can eat and drink God’s word. But they treat nothing seriously, being content with their present situation, and follow the general trend. A careful observation will find that they do not have many elements of progressing positively. This is the hidden passivity. People who live in such negativity are slow in entering into the truth and can hardly achieve the transformation of their disposition. They appear to be in a normal state, but their progress is too slow, so it is still abnormal. Besides, their unconcerned, careless, and indifferent disposition is what God loathes. Such people do not seem to have great difficulties, but actually many things are hidden within them. Without careful observation, they cannot be discovered easily. The people who live for long in the hidden passivity also suffer great harm.” Therefore, it is very crucial to know and resolve the hidden passivity within us.

18 It Is So Important to Pray Genuinely

Zhuiqiu    Jiuquan City, Gansu Province

Doctrinally most believers in God know that prayer is very important and we should all pray genuinely. But in our real life, we do not pay attention to praying genuinely. Most of the time, we pray to God perfunctorily and deceitfully. For example, many times we rest content with praying several times a day without caring whether we have achieved results, and sometimes we even do not know what we have said in our prayer. Sometimes we do not feel like praying, but when we see that other brothers and sisters are praying, we also kneel down and say something carelessly. When we encounter difficulties, most often we weep them out to God in prayer, asking God to help us get things done in any way. When we are in a good state and achieve good results in our work, we pray to God to keep us always in such a state and let us always achieve good results. When we are dealt with and feel aggrieved, we air our grievances before God: “O God, you are almighty and you know the truth of the matter best. I am really not as the leader said….” None of such prayers is genuine prayer.

16 Everything God Does Is Salvation and Love for Man

Xiaotong    Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province

We often say that everything God does is salvation and love for man, but in reality we often deny this fact, not fully acknowledging or accepting it, and always contradict ourselves. When what God does is in conformity with our notions, we acknowledge that God saves man and loves man. But when what God does is not in conformity with our notions, we deny God’s love at once and are full of misunderstandings, complaints, and resistance against God. For example, in 1999, we thought that God’s work was about to be concluded and we would soon enter the kingdom, so we all felt ourselves to be the most blessed people in the world and said repeatedly that “God loves us so much.” But later when we heard that we still needed to experience the “seven-year trial,” we immediately had complaints within, thinking that God was purposely tormenting us to make us suffer, and so were very unwilling to accept it. When God places us in favorable circumstances to let us experience, we immediately say, “God loves us so much. He knows our small stature and is so thoughtful for us. He has really gone to a lot of trouble for saving us.” But when God places us in unfavorable circumstances to refine us, we resist in our hearts and complain that what God does is inhuman. When we read God’s words of comforting man and blessing man, we grin from ear to ear and say that God loves man so much. But when we read God’s words of judging man and cursing man, we say that God’s words are too stern and God does not have any intention to save man. And so on. In our real life, we express our naturalness capriciously. At one moment we say that God loves us so much, and at another we say that God is inhuman. At one moment we say that God has really gone to a lot of trouble for saving us, and at another we say that God is purposely tormenting us.

14 Only If We Have a Deep Enough Knowledge of Ourselves Can We Gain the Transformation of Our Disposition

Zirun    Jinzhou City, Liaoning Province

In most of us there exists such a state: Although we have gained some knowledge of what aspects of the corrupt nature we have and also have a general idea of what nature the corruptions we express are out of, nevertheless, when encountering things, we still relapse into our old nature and can never practice the truth, nor can any transformation be seen in us. For example, we know that we are arrogant and conceited, and we also often fellowship about the corruption of this aspect, yet when encountering things, we still hold on to our own ideas, not submissive to anyone. When performing our duties, we still exalt ourselves and testify ourselves, unable to do the work according to the work arrangements. We have realized that we seek ease and comfort and are too lazy, yet when performing our duties, we are still unwilling to endure hardships and unable to forsake our flesh, and we still have too much perfunctoriness and deceit. We acknowledge that we are too crafty, yet when giving a report on our work, we still employ trickery and practice deception. And so on. There are too many such states existing in us. Then, exactly what has caused us to have knowledge only but gain no transformation?

12 The Work of the Man Used by the Holy Spirit Is Led Completely by the Holy Spirit

Chao Wei    Hefei City, Anhui Province

We often hear some people in the church say, “The man used by the Holy Spirit is also a man, so his work is unavoidably mixed with man’s will.” For this reason, some people do not absolutely obey the work of the man used by the Holy Spirit nor cooperate with the arrangements from above actively on their own initiative. Some even despise or refuse to read the fellowship from above. Some do not express anything outwardly but resist in their hearts and are unwilling to accept. Some even judge and demolish, and especially when the arrangement from above does not match their notions, they react more strongly. For example, the above said the gospel work would be concluded at the end of the year 2003 by and large, but it was not concluded at the end of that year as people had imagined. Thus, many people complained, “This is done by man. It is to coax us to go forward.” When the above required us to preach the gospel to the unbelievers, many people formed notions, saying, “This is done by man. This stage of the work has nothing to do with the unbelievers at all!” When the above required that those possessed by evil spirits, those who often had the working of evil spirits, those antichrists and the like be purged and expelled from the church and that the church members be classified into groups according to their kind to have meetings, some judged by saying, “This is done by man. It is too harmful and merciless to do like this”; some did not say anything with their mouth but just refused to carry it out. When the above required the workers and the leaders of God’s family to write ministering articles, some formed notions and uttered complaints, saying, “It is enough that we just believe in God; why is it so troublesome? We are asked to write this today and that tomorrow.” And so on. These manifestations are sufficient to prove that we do not know the substance of the work done by the man used by the Holy Spirit, do not know that the leading of the man used by the Holy Spirit is completely the leading of the Holy Spirit and is a way for God to do the work and lead the people, and do not understand why God has to raise up the man used by the Holy Spirit to lead us or what are the purpose and significance of God’s doing the work in this way.

Western Scholars Gather in Seoul for The Church of Almighty God’s Premiering Photo Exhibit

October 24, 2018, The Church of Almighty God held its first photo exhibition in Seoul, South Korea with the theme of “The birth and development of The Church of Almighty God,” drawing eleven experts and scholars from seven countries including the USA, Canada, England, France, and Italy to attend and explore the exhibit. Massimo Introvigne, who is an Italian sociologist and the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), France’s Bernadette Rigal-Cellard, professor of North American Studies at the University of Bordeaux Montaigne, Canadian sociologist and author Susan Jean Palmer, and others raised questions on Almighty God’s work of the last days, and several Christians who accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days in its early period provided detailed answers to each one of them. They also shared their feelings and understandings from undergoing Almighty God’s work and words with the guests.