You have been told to equip yourselves with the words of God, that regardless of what is arranged for you, all is orchestrated by God’s own hand, and that there is no need for your earnest prayer or supplication—they are useless. Yet in terms of the present situation, the practical problems facing you are unimaginable to you. If you merely await the arrangements of God, your progress will be too slow, and for those who don’t know how to experience there will be much passivity. Thus, if you are unable to completely see through to these things, then you are muddled and silly in your experiencing. If you have no reality but only words, is this not a sign of erroneousness? Much erroneousness is visible in you, this group.
Today, you can’t make it through the trials like “service-doers,” or else are incapable of imagining or making it through other refinement related to the words of God. Much of what requires your practice is what requires your adherence. Which is to say, people must adhere to the many duties that they should perform. This is what people should adhere to, and what they must carry out. Let the Holy Spirit do what must be done by the Holy Spirit; man can play no part in it. Man should adhere to what ought to be done by man, which bears no relation to the Holy Spirit. It is nothing but that which ought to be done by man, and should be adhered to as commandment, just like adherence to the law of the Old Testament. Although now is not the Age of Law, there are still many words of a kind with the Age of Law that should be adhered to, and they are not carried out merely by relying on being touched by the Holy Spirit, but are what should be adhered to by man. For example: You shall not pass judgment on the work of the practical God. You shall not oppose the man who is testified to by God. Before God, you shall keep your place and shall not be dissolute. You should be moderate in speech, and your words and actions must follow the arrangements of the man testified to by God. You should revere the testimony of God. You shall not ignore the work of God and the words from His mouth. You shall not imitate the tone and aims of God’s utterances. Externally, you shall not do anything that manifestly opposes the man who is testified to by God. This, and more, is what each person should adhere to. In each age, God specifies many rules that are akin to the laws and are to be adhered to by man. Through this, He constrains man’s disposition, and detects his sincerity. Take the words “Honor your father and your mother” of the Old Testament age, for example. These words do not apply today; at the time, they merely constrained some of man’s external disposition, they were used to demonstrate the sincerity of man’s belief in God, and were a mark of those who believed in God. Although now is the Age of Kingdom, there are still many rules that man must adhere to. The rules of the past don’t apply; today, there are many, more fitting practices for man to carry out, and which are necessary. They do not involve the work of the Holy Spirit and must be done by man.
In the Age of Grace, many of the practices of the Age of Law were discarded because these laws were not particularly effective for the work at that time. After they were discarded, many practices were set out that were suitable for the age, and which have become the many rules of today. When the God of today came, these rules were dispensed with, and no longer needed to be adhered to, and there were set out many practices suitable for the work of today. Today, these practices are not rules, but in order to achieve an effect; they are suitable for today—and tomorrow, perhaps, they will become rules. In sum, you should adhere to that which is fruitful for the work of today. Pay no heed to tomorrow: What is done today is for the sake of today. Maybe tomorrow there will be better practices which you will be required to carry out—but do not pay too much attention to that, adhere to that which should be adhered to today so as to avoid opposing God. Today, nothing is more crucial for man to adhere to than the following: You must not deceive or conceal anything from the God that stands before your eyes. You shall not utter filthiness or foolish talk in front of the God before you. You shall not deceive the God before your eyes by good words and fair speeches in order to gain His trust. You shall not act irreverently before God. You shall obey all that is spoken from the mouth of God, and shall not resist, oppose, or dispute His words. You shall not interpret, as you see fit, the words spoken from the mouth of God. You should guard your tongue to avoid it causing you to fall prey to the deceitful schemes of the wicked. You should guard your footsteps to avoid transgressing the boundaries set out for you by God. Doing so will cause you to speak conceited and pompous words from the perspective of God, and thus become loathed by God. You shall not carelessly repeat the words spoken from the mouth of God, lest others mock you and the devils make a fool of you. You shall obey all of the work of the God of today. Even if you do not understand it, you shall not pass judgment on it; all you can do is seek and fellowship. No person shall transgress God’s original place. You can do nothing more than serve the God of today from the position of man. You cannot teach the God of today from the position of man—to do so is misguided. No one may stand in the place of the man testified to by God; in your words, actions, and inmost thoughts, you stand in the position of man. This is to be abided by, it is the responsibility of man, it is alterable by no one, and doing so would violate the administrative decrees. It should be remembered by all.
The long time that God has spent speaking and uttering has caused man to consider reading and memorizing the words of God to be his primary task. No one pays attention to practice, and even that which you ought to abide by you do not, so this has brought many difficulties and problems to your service. If, prior to practicing the words of God, you have not adhered to that which you should adhere to, then you are one of those who are detested and rejected by God. In adhering to these practices, you should be earnest and sincere. You should not treat them like shackles, but adhere to them as commandments. Today, you ought not to concern yourself with what effects are to be achieved; in short, this is how the Holy Spirit works, and whoever commits offense must die. The Holy Spirit is without emotion, and heedless of your present understanding. If you offend Him today, then He will punish you. If you offend Him within the scope of His jurisdiction, then He will not spare you. He does not care how serious you are in your adherence to the words of Jesus. Today, if you do wrong you will be treated with the death penalty. How could it be acceptable for you to not adhere? You must adhere—even if it means suffering a little pain! No matter what denomination, sector, nation, or sect it is, in the future they must all adhere to these practices. None are exempt, and none will be spared! For they are what the Holy Spirit will do today, and they are unoffendable to all. Although they are no great thing, they must be done by every person, and are the commandments set for man by Jesus, who was resurrected and ascended to heaven. Does The Path… (7) not say that Jesus’ definition of whether you are righteous or sinful is according to your attitude toward God today? No one must overlook this point. In the Old Testament, generation after generation of the Pharisees believed in God, but with the arrival of the Age of Grace they did not know Jesus, and opposed Him. So it was that all they did came to nothing, and was in vain, and God did not accept it. If you can see through to this, then you will not easily sin. Many people, perhaps, have measured themselves against God. How does it taste to oppose God, is it bitter or sweet? You should understand this—do not pretend that you don’t know. In their hearts, perhaps, some people remain unconvinced. Yet I advise you to try it and see—see what it tastes like. This will prevent many people from being suspicious about it. Many people read the words of God yet secretly oppose Him in their hearts. After opposing Him like this, do you not feel like a knife has been twisted in your heart? If it is not family disharmony, it is physical discomfort, or the afflictions of sons and daughters. Although your flesh is spared death, the hand of God will never leave you. Do you think it could be that simple? In particular, it is even more necessary for the many who are near to God to focus on this. As time goes on, you will forget it, and, without realizing it, you will be plunged into temptation, you will become heedless of everything, and this will be the start of your sinning. Does this seem trivial to you? If you can do this well, then you have the chance to be made perfect—to receive the guidance from God’s own mouth before God. If you don’t consider this important, then you will be in trouble—you will be defiant of God, your words and actions will be dissolute, and sooner or later you will be carried away by great gales and mighty waves. These things should be noted by every one of you. The man who is testified to by God may not condemn you, but the Spirit of God is not finished with you, He will not spare you. Do you think you have what it takes to commit offense? Thus, no matter what God says, you must put His words into practice, and must adhere to them by any means you can. This is no simple matter!
from The Word Appears in the Flesh
Source: The Word Appears in the Flesh - The Commandments of the New Age
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