God’s Attitude Toward Those Who Run Away During His Work
You’ll find this kind of person everywhere: After they have been certain about God’s way, for various reasons, they depart silently and without a parting word to go off and do whatever their heart desires. For the time being, we won’t get into why this person leaves. First we’ll take a look at what God’s attitude is toward this kind of person. It’s very clear! From the moment this person leaves, in God’s eyes, the span of their belief is over. It’s not this person that ended it, but God.
That this person left God means that they have already rejected God, that they already don’t want God. It means that they already don’t accept God’s salvation. Since this person doesn’t want God, can God still want them? Moreover, when this person has this attitude, this view, and is determined to leave God, they have already aggravated God’s disposition. Even though they didn’t fly into a rage and curse God, even though they didn’t engage in any vile or excessive behavior, and even though this person is thinking: If there comes a day when I’ve had my fill of fun on the outside, or when I still need God for something, I will come back. Or if God calls on me, I will come back. Or they say: When I am hurt on the outside, when I see that the outside world is too dark and too wicked and I no longer want to go with the flow, I will come back to God. Even though this person has calculated in their mind at what point they’re coming back, even though they leave the door open for their return, they don’t realize that no matter how they think and how they plan, this is all just wishful thinking. Their biggest mistake is being unclear about how God feels when they want to leave. Starting from that moment when this person determines to leave God, God has completely abandoned them; God has already established their outcome in His heart. What outcome is that? That this person is one of the hamsters, and will perish along with them. Thus, people often see this kind of situation: Someone abandons God, but they don’t receive a punishment. God operates according to His own principles. People are able to see some things, and some things are only concluded in God’s heart, so people cannot see the result. That which people see isn’t necessarily the true side of things; but the other side, the side you do not see—this is the true thoughts and conclusions of God’s heart.
People Who Run Away During God’s Work Are Those Who Abandon the True Way
So why can God give this kind of person such a serious punishment? Why is God so enraged toward them? First of all we know that God’s disposition is majesty, is wrath. He is not a sheep to be slaughtered by anyone; even more, He is not a puppet to be controlled by people however they want. He is also not empty air to be bossed around by people. If you really believe that God exists, you should have a heart that fears God, and you should know that God’s essence is not to be angered. This anger may be caused by a word; perhaps a thought; perhaps some kind of vile behavior; perhaps mild behavior, behavior that’s passable in the eyes and ethics of man; or perhaps it is caused by a doctrine, a theory. However, once you anger God, your opportunity is lost and your end days have arrived. This is a terrible thing! If you don’t understand that God cannot be offended, then maybe you aren’t afraid of God, and maybe you offend Him all the time. If you don’t know how to fear God, then you’re unable to fear God, and you don’t know how to put yourself on the path of walking in God’s way—fearing God and shunning evil. Once you become aware, you can be conscious that God cannot be offended, then you will know what it is to fear God and shun evil.
Walking in the way of fearing God and shunning evil isn’t necessarily about how much truth you know, how many trials you have experienced, or how much you have been disciplined. Rather, it depends on what the essence of your heart is with regard to God, and what your attitude toward God is. People’s essence and their subjective attitudes—these are very important, very key. With regard to those people who have renounced and left God, their contemptible attitude toward God and their hearts that despise the truth have aggravated God’s disposition, thus so far as God is concerned they will never be forgiven. They have known about God’s existence, they have had the information that God has already arrived, they have even experienced God’s new work. Their departure isn’t a case of being deluded, nor is it that they’re hazy about it. It’s even less a case of them being forced into it. Rather they have consciously, and with a clear mind, chosen to leave God. Their departure isn’t losing their way; it’s not their being cast off. Therefore, in God’s eyes, they are not a lamb who has strayed from the flock, let alone a prodigal son who lost his way. They departed with impunity, and such a condition, such a situation, aggravates God’s disposition, and it is out of this aggravation that He gives them a hopeless outcome. Is this kind of outcome not frightful? So if people don’t know God, they can offend God. This is no small matter! If someone doesn’t take God’s attitude seriously, and still believes that God is looking forward to their return—because they are one of God’s lost lambs and God is still waiting for them to have a change of heart—then this person is not that far removed from their day of punishment. God won’t just refuse to admit them. This is their second time aggravating His disposition; it’s an even more terrible matter! This person’s irreverent attitude has already offended God’s administrative decree. Will God still admit them? God’s principles regarding this matter are: If someone has been certain about the true way yet can still consciously and with a clear mind reject God, and distance themselves from God, then God will block off the road to their salvation, and the gate into the kingdom will henceforth be closed to them. When this person comes knocking once more, God will not open the door for them again. This person will be shut out forever. Perhaps some of you have read the story of Moses in the Bible. After Moses was anointed by God, the 250 leaders were dissatisfied with Moses because of his actions and other various reasons. Who did they refuse to obey? It wasn’t Moses. They refused to obey God’s arrangements; they refused to obey God’s work on this matter. They said the following: “You take too much on you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is among them….” In your eyes, are these words very serious? They’re not serious! At least the literal meaning of the words is not serious. In a legal sense, they don’t break any laws, because on their very surface it’s not hostile language, or vocabulary, much less has any blasphemous meaning. A common sentence is all there is, nothing more. Yet why is it that these words can trigger such rage from God? It’s because they are not spoken to people, but to God. The attitude and disposition expressed by them is precisely what aggravates God’s disposition, especially that of God’s disposition which cannot be offended. We all know what their outcome was in the end. Regarding those who abandoned God, what is their viewpoint? What is their attitude? And why does their viewpoint and attitude lead to God dealing with them in such a manner? The reason is that they clearly know He is God yet they still choose to betray Him. That is why they are totally stripped of their chance for salvation. Just like the Bible says: “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins.” Are you clear on this matter now?
Man’s Fate Is Decided by His Attitude Toward God
God is a living God, and just as people perform differently in different situations, God’s attitude toward these performances differs because He is not a puppet, nor is He empty air. Getting to know God’s attitude is a worthy pursuit for mankind. People should learn how, by knowing God’s attitude, they can know God’s disposition and understand His heart bit by bit. When you come to understand God’s heart bit by bit, you won’t feel that fearing God and shunning evil is a difficult thing to accomplish. What’s more, when you understand God, it’s harder for you to make conclusions about Him. When you stop making conclusions about God, you’re less likely to offend Him, and unwittingly God will lead you to have a knowledge of Him, and thereby you will fear God in your heart. You will stop defining God using the doctrines, the letters, and the theories you’ve mastered. Rather, by always seeking out God’s intentions in all things, you will unconsciously become a person who is after God’s heart.
God’s work is unseen and untouchable by mankind, but as far as God is concerned, the actions of each and every person, along with their attitude toward Him—these are not just perceptible by God, but visible as well. This is something that everyone should recognize and be clear about. You might be always asking yourself: “Does God know what I’m doing here? Does God know what I’m thinking about right now? Maybe He does, maybe He doesn’t.” If you adopt this kind of viewpoint, following and believing in God yet doubting His work and His existence, then sooner or later there will come a day when you anger Him, because you’re already teetering on the edge of a dangerous precipice. I’ve seen people who have believed in God for many years, but they still haven’t gained the reality of the truth, nor do they even understand God’s will. Their life stature doesn’t make any progress, adhering only to the shallowest of doctrine. This is because these people have never taken God’s word as their own life, and they have never faced up to and accepted His existence. Do you think that God sees such people and is filled with enjoyment? Do they comfort Him? In that case, it’s the method of people’s belief in God that decides their fate. Whether it’s the question of how you seek after God or how you treat God, it’s your own attitude that is the most important thing. Don’t neglect God like He is empty air in the back of your head. Always think of the God of your belief as a living God, a real God. He’s not up there in the third heaven with nothing to do. Rather, He’s constantly looking into everyone’s hearts, looking at what you’re up to, into every little word and every little deed, looking into how you behave and what your attitude toward God is. Whether you’re willing to give yourself to God or not, all of your behavior and your innermost thoughts and ideas are before God, being looked upon by Him. It’s according to your behavior, according to your deeds, and according to your attitude toward God, that His opinion of you, and His attitude toward you, is constantly changing. I’d like to offer some advice to those who would place themselves like a little baby in the hands of God, as if He should dote on you, as if He could never leave you, as if His attitude toward you is fixed and could never change: Quit dreaming! God is righteous in His treatment of each and every person. He approaches the work of mankind’s conquest and salvation earnestly. That’s His management. He treats every single person seriously, not like a pet to play with. God’s love for man is not the pampering or spoiling kind; His mercy and tolerance toward mankind is not indulgent or unmindful. On the contrary, God’s love for mankind is to cherish, to pity, and to respect life; His mercy and tolerance convey His expectations of man; His mercy and tolerance are what humanity needs to survive. God is alive, and God actually exists; His attitude toward mankind is principled, not a dogmatic rule at all, and it can change. His will for humanity is gradually changing and transforming with time, with circumstance, and with the attitude of each and every person. So you should be crystal clear on this, and understand that the essence of God is immutable, and His disposition will issue forth at different times, and in different contexts. You might not think that this is a serious issue, and you use your own personal conceptions to imagine how God should do things. But there are times when the total opposite of your viewpoint is true, and that by using your own personal conceptions to try and gauge God, you’ve already angered Him. This is because God doesn’t operate like you think He does, and God won’t treat this matter like you say He will. And so I remind you to be careful and prudent in your approach to everything around you, and learn how to follow the principle of walking in God’s way in all things—fearing God and shunning evil. You must develop a firm understanding on matters of God’s will and God’s attitude; find enlightened people to communicate it to you, and seek earnestly. Don’t view the God of your belief as a puppet—arbitrarily judging, arriving at arbitrary conclusions, not treating God with the respect He deserves. In the process of God’s salvation, when He defines your outcome, no matter if He grants you mercy, or tolerance, or judgment and chastisement, His attitude toward you is not fixed. It depends on your attitude toward God, and your understanding of God. Don’t let one passing aspect of your knowledge or understanding of God define Him in perpetuity. Don’t believe in a dead God; believe in a living one. Remember this! Though I’ve discussed some truths here, truths you needed to hear, in light of your present state and present stature, I won’t make any greater demands so as not to sap your enthusiasm. Doing so could fill your hearts with too much bleakness, and make you feel too much disappointment toward God. Instead I hope you can use the love of God in your hearts, and use an attitude that is respectful of God when walking the path ahead. Don’t muddle through the matter of how to treat the belief of God. Treat it as one of the biggest questions there is. Place it in your heart, put it into practice, connect it with real life—don’t just pay it lip service. For this is a matter of life and death, and it’s one that will determine your destiny. Don’t treat it like a joke, like a child’s game! After sharing these words with you today, I wonder what the harvest of understanding has been in your minds. Are there any questions you wish to ask about what I’ve said here today?
Although these topics are a bit new, and a bit removed from your views and what you usually pursue and pay attention to, I think that after they’ve been communicated for a period of time, you’ll develop a common understanding of everything I’ve said here. As these are new topics, topics that you’ve never considered before, I hope that they won’t add to your burden. I speak these words today not to frighten you, nor do I try to deal with you; rather, My aim is to help you understand the truth of the fact. After all, there is a distance between mankind and God: Though man believes in God, he has never understood God; he has never known God’s attitude. Man has also never been enthusiastic in his concern for God’s attitude. Rather, he has believed blindly, he has proceeded blindly, and he has been careless in his knowledge and understanding of God. So I feel compelled to clear up these issues for you, and help you understand just what kind of God this God you believe in is; what He is thinking; what His attitude is in His treatment of different kinds of people; how far you are from fulfilling His requirements; and the disparity between your actions and the standard He demands. The goal in your knowing this is to give you a yardstick in your hearts with which to measure against and know what kind of harvest the road you’re on has led to, what you haven’t obtained on this road, and what areas you simply haven’t got involved in. When you’re communicating amongst yourselves, you usually speak on a few commonly-discussed topics; the scope is narrow, and the content is very shallow. There is a distance, a gap, between that which you discuss and God’s intentions, between your discussions and the scope and standard of God’s demands. Proceeding like this over time will make you deviate further and further from God’s way. You are just taking existing words from God and turning them into objects of worship, into ritual and regulation. That’s all this is! In fact, God simply has no place in your hearts, and God has never obtained your hearts. Some people think that to know God is very difficult—this is the truth. It’s difficult! If people are asked to do their duty and get things done on the outside, if they are asked to work hard, then people will think that believing in God is very easy, because all of this falls within the scope of man’s abilities. Yet the moment the topic shifts toward the areas of God’s intentions and God’s attitude toward man, then things get a lot more difficult so far as everyone is concerned. That’s because this involves people’s understanding of the truth and their entry into reality; of course there’s a degree of difficulty! But after you get through the first door, after you start entering into it, it gradually gets easier and easier.
The Starting Point for Fearing God Is to Treat Him Like God
Someone just raised a question: How is it that we know more of God than Job did, yet we still can’t fear God? We touched on this matter a little bit previously, right? In fact, the essence of this question has also been discussed before, that though Job didn’t know God back then, he treated Him like God, and regarded Him as the Master of all things in heaven and earth. Job did not consider God to be an enemy. Rather, he worshiped Him as the Creator of all things. Why is it that people nowadays resist God so much? Why can’t they fear God? One reason is that they have been deeply corrupted by Satan. With their satanic nature deeply ingrained, people become an enemy of God. Thus, even though they believe in God and acknowledge God, they can still resist God and place themselves in opposition to Him. This is determined by human nature. The other reason is that although people believe in God, they simply don’t treat Him as God. Instead, they consider God to be opposed to man, regarding Him as man’s enemy, and they are irreconcilable with God. It’s that simple. Wasn’t this matter broached during the previous session? Think about it: Is that the reason? Though you have a bit of knowledge of God, just what is this knowledge? Is this not what everyone is talking about? Is it not what God told you? You only know the theoretical and doctrinal aspects; have you ever experienced the real aspect of God? Do you have subjective knowledge? Do you have practical knowledge and experience? If God didn’t tell you, could you know this? Your knowledge of theory doesn’t represent real knowledge. In short, no matter how much you know and how you came to know it, prior to your attaining a real understanding of God, God is your enemy, and prior to your actually treating God as such, He is placed in opposition to you, for you are an embodiment of Satan.
When you’re together with Christ, perhaps you can serve Him three meals a day, perhaps serve Him tea, attend to His life’s needs, seemingly treating Christ as God. Whenever something happens, people’s viewpoints are always contrary to God’s. They always fail to understand God’s viewpoint, fail to accept it. Though people might get along with God on the surface, this doesn’t mean that they are compatible with Him. As soon as something happens, the truth of man’s disobedience emerges, confirming the hostility that exists between man and God. This hostility is not God opposing man; it’s not God wanting to be hostile to man, and it’s not God placing man in opposition and treating man as such. Rather, it’s a case of this oppositional essence toward God lurking in man’s subjective will, and in man’s subconscious mind. Since man regards all that which comes from God as the object of his research, his response toward that which comes from God and that which involves God is, above all, to guess, and to doubt, and then to quickly adopt an attitude that conflicts with God, and oppose God. After that, man will take these passive moods and dispute God or contest God, even to the point where he’ll doubt whether this kind of God is worth him following. Despite the fact that man’s rationality tells him he shouldn’t proceed like this, he will still choose to do so in spite of himself, such that he will proceed without hesitation to the very end. For example, what is the first reaction of some people when they hear some rumor or slander about God? Their first reaction is: I don’t know if this rumor is true or not, whether it exists or not, so I’ll wait and see. Then they start to ponder: There’s no way to verify this; does it exist? Is this rumor true or not? Though this person is not showing it on the surface, their heart has already started to doubt, already started to deny God. What is the essence of this kind of attitude, this kind of viewpoint? Is it not betrayal? Before they are faced with the matter, you can’t see what this person’s viewpoint is—it seems like they don’t conflict with God, like they don’t regard God as an enemy. However, as soon as they’re faced with it, they immediately stand with Satan and oppose God. What does this suggest? It suggests that man and God are opposed! It’s not that God regards man as an enemy, but that the very essence of man itself is hostile toward God. Regardless of how long someone follows God, how much they pay; regardless of how someone praises God, how they keep themselves from resisting God, even urging themselves to love God, they can never manage to treat God as God. Is this not determined by man’s essence? If you treat Him as God, you truly believe that He is God, can you still have any doubt toward Him? Can there still be any question marks concerning Him in your heart? There can’t. The trends of this world are so evil, this human race is so evil—how is it that you don’t have any conceptions about them? You yourself are so wicked—how is it that you don’t have any conceptions about that? Yet just a few rumors, some slander, can produce such big conceptions about God, can produce so many ideas, which shows just how immature your stature is! Just the “buzzing” of a few mosquitos, a few repulsive flies, that’s all it takes to deceive you? What kind of person is this? Do you know what God thinks about this kind of person? God’s attitude is actually very clear in how He treats these people. It’s only that God’s treatment of these people is to give them the cold shoulder—His attitude is to not pay any attention to them, and to not be serious with these ignorant people. Why is that? Because in His heart He never planned on obtaining those people who have pledged to be hostile toward Him to the very end, and who have never planned on seeking out the way of compatibility with Him. Perhaps these words I have spoken hurt a few people. Well, are you willing to always let Me hurt you like this? Regardless of whether you’re willing or not, everything I say is the truth! If I always hurt you like this, always expose your scars, will it affect the lofty image of God in your hearts? (It won’t.) I agree that it won’t. For there simply is no God in your hearts. The lofty God that inhabits your hearts, the one you strongly defend and protect, simply isn’t God. Rather it’s a figment of man’s imagination; it simply does not exist. So it’s all the better that I expose the answer to this riddle. Is this not the whole truth? The real God is not the imaginings of man. I hope you can all face this reality, and it will help in your knowledge of God.
Those People Who Are Not Acknowledged by God
There are some people whose belief has never been acknowledged in God’s heart. In other words, God does not recognize that these people are His followers, because God does not praise their belief. For these people, regardless of how many years they have followed God, their ideas and views have never changed. They are like the non-believers, adhering to the non-believers’ principles and manner of doing things, adhering to their laws of survival and belief. They never accepted the word of God as their life, never believed that God’s word is truth, never intended on accepting God’s salvation, and never recognized God as their God. They regard believing in God as some kind of amateur hobby, treating God merely as spiritual sustenance, so they don’t think it’s worth it to try and understand God’s disposition, or God’s essence. You could say that all that which corresponds to the true God has nothing to do with these people. They’re not interested, and they can’t be bothered to respond. This is because deep in their hearts there’s an intense voice that’s always telling them: God is invisible and untouchable, and God doesn’t exist. They believe that trying to understand this kind of God would not be worth their efforts; it would be fooling themselves. They just acknowledge God in words, and don’t take any real stand. They also don’t do anything in practical terms, thinking that they’re pretty clever. How does God look upon these people? He views them as non-believers. Some people ask: “Can non-believers read God’s word? Can they do their duty? Can they say these words: ‘I’ll live for God’?” What man often sees are the surface displays of people, not their essence. Yet God doesn’t look at these surface displays; He only sees their inner essence. Thus, God has this kind of attitude, this kind of definition, toward these people. Regarding what these people say: “Why does God do this? Why does God do that? I can’t understand this; I can’t understand that; this doesn’t conform to the notions of man; You must explain that to me; …” My answer is: Is it necessary to explain this matter to you? Does this matter have anything to do with you? Who do you think you are? Where did you come from? Are you qualified to give out pointers to God? Do you believe in Him? Does He acknowledge your belief? Since your belief has nothing to do with God, what business are His doings to you? You don’t know where you stand in God’s heart, yet you’re qualified to dialogue with God?
Words of Admonishment
Aren’t you uncomfortable after hearing these remarks? Though you may be unwilling to listen to these words, or unwilling to accept them, they are all facts. Because this stage of the work is for God to perform, if you aren’t concerned with God’s intentions, aren’t concerned with God’s attitude, and don’t understand God’s essence and disposition, then in the end you’re the one who will lose out. Don’t blame My words for being hard to listen to, and don’t blame them for deflating your enthusiasm. I speak the truth; I don’t mean to discourage you. No matter what I ask of you, and no matter how you’re required to do it, I hope that you walk the correct path, and hope that you follow God’s way and do not deviate from this path. If you do not proceed in accordance to God’s word, and don’t follow His way, then there can be no doubt that you are rebelling against God and have wandered from the correct path. Thus I feel there are some matters that I must clarify for you, and make you believe unequivocally, clearly, without a shred of uncertainty, and help you explicitly know God’s attitude, God’s intentions, how God perfects man, and in what way He sets the outcomes of man. Should there come a day when you’re unable to embark upon this path, then I bear no responsibility, because these words have already been spoken to you very clearly. As for how you treat your own outcome—this matter is entirely up to you. God has different attitudes regarding the outcomes of different kinds of people. He has His own ways of measuring man, and His own standard of requirements. His standard of measuring people is one that’s fair to everyone—there is no doubt about that! So some people’s fears are unnecessary. Are you relieved now? That’s it for today. Goodbye!
April 29, 2014
from The Word Appears in the Flesh
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