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125-B-1
Let’s start our meeting. Let’s first read a passage of God’s word, “The Sixth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh.
“In
matters within the spirit, you should be delicately sensitive; to My
words, you should be carefully attentive. You should aim for the state
in which you see My Spirit and My fleshly self, My words and My fleshly
self, as one indivisible whole, and make it so that all of humanity will
be able to satisfy Me in My presence. I have trodden the universe with
My feet, stretching out My gaze over its entire expanse, and I have
walked in the midst of all mankind, tasting the sweet, sour, bitter, and
pungent flavors of human experience, but man never truly recognized Me,
nor did he notice Me as I walked abroad. Because I was silent, and
performed no supernatural deeds, because of this no one ever truly saw
Me. Things are not now as they once were: I am going to do things that,
since the beginning of creation, the world has never seen, I am going to
speak words that, throughout the ages, men have never heard, because I
ask that all humanity come to know Me in the flesh. These are steps in
My management, about which humanity has not the faintest inkling. Even
when I speak of them openly, man is still so befuddled in his mind that
it is impossible to articulate them to him in every detail. Herein lies
man’s abject lowliness, does it not? This is precisely what I wish to
remedy in him, is it not? All these years, I have not worked anything
upon man; all these years, even those who were in direct touch with My
incarnate flesh never heard the voice coming directly from My divinity.
And so it is unavoidable that human beings should be lacking in their
knowledge of Me, but this one thing alone has not affected humanity’s
love for Me through the ages. Now, however, I have wrought upon you
countless amount of work miraculous and unfathomable as well as spoken
to you many words. And yet, even under conditions like these, so many
people still oppose Me to My face. Let Me give you a few examples:
Daily
you pray to a vague God, trying to grasp My intentions, to get the feel
of life. But, when My words actually come down, you look at them
differently: You take My words and My Spirit as one indivisible entity,
but you kick the man aside, thinking that the man that I am is simply
incapable of uttering words of this kind, and that they are rather the
result of My Spirit’s disposing. How would you know about a situation
like this? You believe in My words to a certain extent, but as for the
flesh that I put on, to greater or lesser degree you entertain your own
ideas, about which you cogitate day by day, saying: “Why does He do
things in that way? Could it be that this comes from God? Impossible! In
my view, He is pretty much the same as I am—a normal, ordinary person.”
Again, how would you explain a situation like this?
Regarding
what I said above, is there any one among you who is not equipped with
it? Any who does not possess it? It would appear to be something that
you’re holding onto like a piece of personal property, and all this time
you’ve been reluctant to let it go. Still less have you been willing to
pursue active effort; instead you wait for Me to do the work in person.
Truth be told, there is not a single human being who, without seeking
after Me, comes to know Me with ready ease. Indeed, these are not
shallow words with which I preach you a lesson, because I can raise an
example from a different angle for your reference:
As
soon as Peter is mentioned, everybody is full of praise, instantly
reminded of all these stories about Peter—how he thrice denied knowing
God and moreover rendered service unto Satan, thereby testing God, but
in the end was nailed upside down on the cross for His sake, and so on.
Now I place great importance on narrating for you how Peter came to know
Me as well as his final outcome. This man Peter was of excellent
caliber, but his circumstances were different from those of Paul. His
parents persecuted Me, they belonged to demons possessed by Satan, and
for this reason one cannot say that they transmitted the way to Peter.
Peter was agile of wit, endowed with native intelligence, doted on from
boyhood by his parents; after growing up, however, he became their
enemy, for he always sought to know Me, and this led him to turn his
back on his parents. This was because, first of all, he believed that
the heavens and earth and all things are in the hands of the Almighty,
and that all positive things originate from God and come directly from
Him, without passing through any processing by Satan. With the
counterexample of his parents to serve as a foil, this enabled him all
the more readily to recognize My love and mercy, thereby inflaming in
him an even greater passion to seek after Me. He paid close attention
not only to eating and drinking My words, but even more to grasping My
intentions, and was constantly prudent and cautious in his thoughts, so
that he was always keenly astute in his spirit, and hence was able to
please Me in everything he did. In ordinary life, he paid close
attention to integrating into his own life[a]
the lessons of those who had failed in the past so as to spur himself
on to greater endeavor, deeply afraid that he might fall into the nets
of failure. He also paid close attention to assimilating the faith and
love of all those who through the ages had loved God. In this way he not
only in negative aspects, but much more importantly, in positive
aspects sped up the progress of his growth, until he became in My
presence the one human being who knew Me best. For this reason, it is
not difficult to imagine how he could place all that he had in My hands,
no longer being his own master even in eating, dressing, sleeping, or
where he stayed, but made satisfying Me in all things the foundation on
which he enjoyed My bounty. So many times did I put him under trial,
which of course left him half dead, but even in the midst of these
hundreds of trials, he never once lost faith in Me or became
disillusioned with Me. Even when I said I had already thrown him aside,
he did not grow faint of heart or fall into despair, but continued as
before to carry out his principles so as to realize his love for Me.
When I told him that, even though he loved Me, I did not commend him but
would cast him into Satan’s hands in the end. In the midst of these
trials, which did not reach unto his flesh but were trials by means of
words, he still prayed to Me: Oh, God! Among the heavens and earth and
the myriad things, is there any man, any creature, or any thing that is
not in the hands of You, the Almighty? When You wish to show me mercy,
my heart rejoices greatly on account of Your mercy; when You wish to
pass judgment on me, unworthy though I may be, I feel all the more the
profound mystery of Your deeds, because You are filled with authority
and wisdom. Though my flesh may suffer, I am comforted in my spirit. How
could I not extol Your wisdom and Your deeds? Even if I die after
coming to know You, I would be ever ready and willing. Oh, Almighty One!
Surely it is not that You truly do not wish to let me see You? Surely
it is not that I am truly unworthy of receiving Your judgment? Can it
possibly be that there is something in me that You do not wish to see?
In the midst of these kinds of trials, even though Peter was not able to
grasp My intentions accurately, it is evident that he considered it a
matter of pride and personal glory to be used by Me (be it only to
receive My judgment so that humanity might see My majesty and wrath),
and was anything but dejected on account of being put under trial.
Because of his loyalty in My presence, and because of My blessings upon
him, he has become an exemplar and a model for mankind for thousands of
years. Is this not precisely the example that you should follow? At this
time, you should think hard and try to work out why I have given such a
lengthy account of Peter. This should serve you as a code of conduct.
Even
though there are very few people who know Me, I will not on that
account vent My anger upon humanity, because human beings have so many
shortcomings that it is difficult for them to attain the level that I
ask of them. And so I have been lenient to humanity for thousands of
years, all the way down to the present day. But I hope that you will
not, because of My leniency, be too ready to indulge yourselves; you
should rather, through Peter, come to know Me and seek after Me, and
through all of Peter’s stories, become enlightened in unprecedented
ways, and in this way arrive at a realm previously unattained by
humanity. Throughout the universe and the limitless expanses of the
firmament, the myriad things of creation, the myriad things on earth,
and the myriad things in heaven are each and every one consecrating
their whole strength for the sake of My last stage of work. Surely you
do not wish to remain spectators on the sidelines, driven hither and yon
by Satan’s forces? Satan is constantly devouring the knowledge that men
hold of Me in their hearts, and constantly, with teeth bared and claws
unsheathed, engaged in the last throes of its death struggle. Do you
wish to be captured by its deceitful stratagems at this moment? Do you
wish, at the moment that the last phase of My work is completed, to cut
off your own life? Surely you are not still waiting for Me to dispense
My leniency one more time? Seeking to know Me is the key thing, but
neither should you neglect to pay attention to actual practice. I am
revealing insights to you directly in My words, in hopes that you will
be able to submit to My guidance, and cease to entertain aspirations or
designs of your own.”
February 27, 1992
Footnotes:
a. The original text omits “into his own life.”
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“The
Sixth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word
Appears in the Flesh–this passage is very important to us in having
faith in God, experiencing God’s work, attaining knowledge of God, so
today we just want to lay importance on communicating this passage. The
beginning of this passage is thus: “In matters within the
spirit, you should be delicately sensitive; to My words, you should be
carefully attentive. You should aim for the state in which you see My
Spirit and My fleshly self, My words and My fleshly self, as one
indivisible whole, and make it so that all of humanity will be able to
satisfy Me in My presence.” What matter is being addressed
here? In the course of experiencing God’s work in order to attain
knowledge of God, what must we place importance on first of all? “In matters within the spirit, you should be delicately sensitive; to My words, you should be carefully attentive.”
These two matters are crucial. There are many people who do not seek
the truth, with the result that even after having believed in God for
many years they still possess nothing of the truth, and they have no
real knowledge of God, and this causes them to be without principles in
performing their duties. This kind of person is even unworthy to do
service, is this not a fact? They are unworthy to do service! Because in
doing your duty you still cannot be up to the standard, you are not
qualified to do service. If your service is not up to the standard, and
if God’s work is finished in the very end, can you survive? You cannot.
Those who continue to exist are the faithful service-doers. What
conditions must a faithful service-doer be equipped with? One whose
service can be justifiable and who is truly able to produce good results
that can be put to use is a faithful service-doer. What is the meaning
of “faithful”? It is not just going through the motions, it is not
giving up halfway down the road; it is bearing up the responsibility in
doing well the work that God entrusted to you, and remaining firm until
the end. This is a faithful service-doer. Now there are many people who
perform their duty and do not reach the standard. You can say these
people are all service-doers, because not being up to the standard in
doing their duty they cannot be called people of God. In the past, there
were many people that did not understand what the people of God were.
What, after all, are the people of God? Is it that we, who have accepted
Almighty God, are the people of God? It is not when you accept the name
of Almighty God that you are of the people of God. In this there is a
process of being made perfect. Herein there is a criterion. What is the
criterion? It is having performed your duty up to the standard, and only
then are you of the people of God, and those who have not reached the
criterion in doing their duty are not of the people of God. They are not
people of God, so what, specifically, do they belong to? They are the
service-doers. In the stage of practice, they are called service-doers.
Who is it that is called a service-doer? Those who are in a state of not
yet having obtained the truth are called service-doers. When one has
obtained the truth and is able to handle affairs in accordance with
principle, it means that they have attained life. People who have
attained life are also people who have the truth as their life, and only
then are they truly people of God. Understand this clearly!
How do you act if you want to seek the truth? About this it is said, “In matters within the spirit, you should be delicately sensitive; to My words, you should be carefully attentive.”
If people are not equipped with just these two things, then it is not
easy to obtain the truth. Even though many people wish to seek the
truth, they are unable to put it into practice. They do not know where
to begin, and do not know how to experience it, so what problems must be
resolved? What is most crucial are these two sayings: “In matters within the spirit, you should be delicately sensitive; to My words, you should be carefully attentive.”
Some people may ask what “matters within the spirit” refer to. They are
matters that partake of the truth. Matters of spiritual life, matters
of the spiritual world, and matters that involve the truth are all
considered matters within the spirit. To give an example, how does the
Holy Spirit perform works? Is this not a matter within the spirit? What
is the principle whereby the Holy Spirit performs works? What people
does God love or detest, make blessed or eliminate? In battles of the
spiritual world, how does Satan test people? How does God appropriate
the tests of Satan to try people, refine people, and reveal people for
who they are? The path for entering into life, the principles of
pursuing the truth, and the true course of life’s maturation–are these
not all matters within the spirit? They are all matters within the
spirit. When you ask some people, “When the Holy Spirit performs works,
how does He do so?” They say, “The Holy Spirit performs works? This
cannot be seen and cannot be felt. I do not know.” Can this kind of
person understand the spirit or not? If you ask, “In what place does God
reside?” “Where does God reside? Of course, He resides in heaven.”
“Incorrect. The word of God says that God walks and lives among people!”
“Oh, it says that. But I have not seen Him!” Can such people understand
the spirit? God brought His glory from Israel to the East, and there
are people who say, “Having brought it to the East, what then is this
glory like? How have I not seen it?” Can a person who speaks these words
understand the spirit? God says He has done a stage of the work of
judgment in the last days. The person says, “Where is this work of
judgment done? Where is God’s judgment seat? Is God sitting on the
throne? Then where is the throne, and how have I not seen it?” Does this
person understand the spirit or not? People may ask you, “Do you
believe in God in heaven or God on earth?” You say, “What I believe in
is God on earth, it is Christ incarnate!” “Then where is God? Have you
seen Him? Where is God? Who has seen Him?” Can a person who speaks these
words understand the spirit or not? Are these things not matters within
the spirit? Matters within the spirit are things a person cannot see
with the physical eye but nevertheless certainly exist. All people can
feel them through the spirit, and spiritual people all recognize it is a
certain fact that these are matters within the spirit. In the words “In matters within the spirit, you should be delicately sensitive,” what does the phrase “be delicately sensitive”
refer to? It means you must be serious and earnest; do not persist in a
rough and confused understanding. Once a person carefully communes,
ponders and thinks, then he will see matters within the spirit ever more
clearly and more truthfully until he reaches a level of clarity and
reality such that he can express it verbally. Then he will have
knowledge of God, and will then be able to bear witness to God. To give
an example, the great red dragon frantically resists and condemns the
work of God, and fiercely persecutes and seizes the chosen people of
God. Is this not a matter within the spirit? Some people say, “Is
seizing the chosen people of God not an external matter? I have seen my
brothers and sisters seized and severely persecuted, and this is an
external matter. How is this a matter within the spirit?” So, what is
the “matter within the spirit”? It is that God allows the evil spirit
Satan to act this way, allowing Satan to come and try these chosen
people of God, and that God uses these tests to reveal who people really
are. God is making a wager with Satan using these chosen people. Is
this not a matter of the spiritual world? This is reality, and these are
matters within the spirit. There is another phrase from the word of
God, “My wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s plots.”
When you open your physical eyes wide, can you see this matter clearly?
No matter how wide you open your eyes you cannot see it. Why? It is a
matter of the spiritual world. The physical eye cannot see the matters
of the spiritual world, but the spirit can sense them. If you vainly
rely only on the physical eye to determine true from false, is this
correct? This causes only trouble, and you will certainly not understand
the truth, much less come to know God.
Now, God demands that the
chosen people of God seek to know God, so He has expressed “The Sixth
Utterance.” If you are not in the least concerned with matters within
the spirit, and you do not seek the truth, can you attain knowledge of
God? In knowing God, the principal thing is to be sensitive and serious
toward the matters within the spirit, and to place importance on the
word of God. In the words of God there are many things that are matters
of the spiritual world, matters within the spirit, and external matters
are very few. Why are there many people who read the word of God but
feel sapped of energy? Why can’t this energy be invigorated? It is
because these are all matters within the spirit that the physical eye
cannot see nor the hand feel. To give an example, the unbelievers seek
fame and fortune–can the physical eye see that or not? There are people
chosen as presidents or as legislators, and people can see this. But
with respect to matters of the spiritual world, and seeking to know God,
and obtaining the praise and blessings of God–can these be seen or not?
You cannot see them relying on the physical eye alone. You cannot see
them relying on the physical eye, so how can you acknowledge that people
like Peter obtained the praise of God? How can you see this matter of
how Peter truly obtained the praise of God? This requires seeking the
truth before you can understand. What level do you have to reach in
seeking the truth to be convinced and acknowledge that Peter indeed
received God’s praise, and was indeed made an exemplary model by God? Is
this easy to attain or not? It is truly not easy, and this requires us
to do what God says, “in matters within the spirit, you should be delicately sensitive; to My words, you should be carefully attentive.”
Now
there are many people who lay emphasis on external matters, “What
should I eat? What should I wear? What will the world be like tomorrow?
When will the great calamity occur? I have not yet found a partner; will
I be able to start a family in the future? Where will I live? Will I
live high up on a mountain, or on an island, or on the plains?” What are
all these matters considered? They are external matters, matters of the
flesh. Matters of the flesh are completely contradictory to matters
within the spirit, and if you give importance to matters of the flesh,
then can you know matters within the spirit? The more you live in the
flesh, the more you feel the matters within the spirit are uncertain.
The more you emphasize matters within the spirit, the more truly you can
see matters within the spirit. The more truly you see the matters of
the spiritual world, the more you will take interest in the word of God
and in the truth, and then you will feel that the matters within the
spirit are so real, a hundred or a thousand times more real than the
matters of the flesh. There are people who do not understand, saying, “I
do not deny the reality of matters within the spirit, but are matters
of the flesh not real? How can matters within the spirit be a hundred
times more real than matters of the flesh? What are you talking about?”
Tell me, are these words tenable or not? Matters of the flesh are all
false, and even if what is in front of your eyes is real, it is still
false because matters of the flesh are temporary. In the blink of an eye
they will be gone, and they cannot permanently exist. The matters of
the flesh cannot exist forever, but matters within the spirit will last
forever. People all recognize these words, so in the end is it matters
of the spiritual world that are real, or matters of the substance and
the flesh that are real? I say that matters within the spirit are a
hundred times more real than matters of the flesh. Is this correct? When
I speak this way, those people who seek physical pleasure all appear as
imbeciles, and those people who seek fame and fortune and status are
even greater imbeciles. What has no connection with the truth is
considered a matter of the flesh. You must not seek after it, for in an
instant it will be gone! If you seek after it, you will have a feeling
of having been deceived and misled by Satan. Is there such a feeling or
not? If you don’t believe then you may seek fleshly pleasures, saying,
“I will have several children, I will get several mates, I will find a
good job, I will earn so much money, I will live in such a grand
mansion.” In an instant all this is gone. After a great earthquake it is
all lost and after you have died it is all lost, and there will be a
day when the world no longer exists. At that time, you will feel, “I
have been cheated, I have followed the wrong path, this is the Creator
toying with people!” Are there people who have this feeling? They say it
is the Creator toying with people, but what you have sought is a way of
error, so who can you blame? Here, Satan is wielding its influence
among this corrupt humanity, and why did you allow yourself to be fooled
by it? Why did you not place importance on matters within the spirit,
why did you not seek the truth? This is what you deserve! Some people
see others enjoying themselves very well, and say, “How did you come to
have such enjoyment? How have I not come to have these enjoyments?
Heaven is unjust, I will not accept it! I want to enjoy the same things
you are enjoying, and I must have even more enjoyment than you!” What
kind of person is this? Is this not of the same species as Satan? The
day when you enjoy a good life will be the day when death befalls you,
the day of your extinction. “In matters within the spirit, you should be delicately sensitive.”
However much misfortune you suffer in matters of the flesh, it is not
misfortune–misfortune is also to your benefit! Can this be said? Some
people have sex with a lot of people, and afterward they think, “How
favorable this is, it is quite favorable! I’m this lucky in love
affairs!” One day when they come in contact with the matters of the
spirit and the truth, they think about those matters, “I have suffered a
great misfortune and loss, and I have been cheated!” The more advantage
you gain, the more misfortune you will suffer! Do not seek the matters
of the flesh, for the matters of the flesh are not real, they are
illusory! You should understand this now!1
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“In matters within the spirit, you should be delicately sensitive”—why
must one be delicately sensitive? This is like how you open your eyes
to see something clearly. Will it work not to be delicately sensitive?
If you are crude and sloppy and not earnest, you will not be able to see
it clearly, and there will be no way to understand the truth. To give
an example, God says that God’s wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s
plots. Is this a matter within the spirit or an external one? It is a
matter within the spirit. Then what matter has any relation to these
words? We must pay careful attention to the word of God, so let us pay
attention to it. Let us take these words as an example. How do you know
these words, and can you bring forth examples? This is a matter within
the spiritual world, and if you are delicately sensitive to it and seek
the truth, you will understand what the meaning of these words is, and
what God is saying. If you can produce many examples, then you can
confirm in your heart that the phrase “God’s wisdom is exercised based
on Satan’s plots” is the truth, and is a fact, and that God acts
precisely in this way. In experiencing this, once you are delicately
sensitive and earnest, you will then come to know and understand these
words. When you truly know and understand these words, is this not
understanding this aspect of the truth? When you bear witness to the
work of God, there is this truth—that God’s wisdom is exercised based on
Satan’s plots—and when you understand this truth, you can bear witness
to it. How will you bear witness? How does God make use of the service
of the great red dragon? How is the fact that God’s wisdom is exercised
on Satan’s plots fulfilled in the great red dragon? Talk about this with
examples. Some people say, “God is so almighty, so why does He not
annihilate the great red dragon in an instant? If God brought about an
earthquake of higher than a magnitude of nine in China, all the
political power of the great red dragon would be wiped out. How does God
not do this?” People who know God say, “Do you not know that God has
these words?” “What words?” “My wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s plots.”
“What are the plots of Satan?” Satan says, “I’ll catch all the chosen
people of Yours in one fell swoop, and I’ll see how You will establish
the kingdom on earth!” God says, “Fine, I will perfect a group of
overcomers through your persecution and oppression of My chosen people
and in the end when this group of overcomers appears, the kingdom of
Christ will appear.” This is like Satan’s accusations against Job, with
the result that Job was faced with this temptation. God used Satan’s
temptation to try Job, and Job had a beautifully resounding bearing of
witness. Afterward, Satan retreated in humiliation, and through this
matter God came to defeat Satan. What do all of these facts illustrate? “My wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s plots.”
These words are a matter within the spirit, and can you see it from the
outside? You cannot. When those fiends of Satan have seen these words,
do they understand what they mean? They shake their heads back and forth
like pellet drums, and they don’t understand. “What are these words? I
do not understand them.” They do not see them clearly. People who
believe in God understand these words as soon as they see them, those
who understand the spirit understand a little once they see them, and
they become clearer when these words are communicated, and they will
become perfectly clear after some tens of years of experience. Those who
do not understand the spirit cannot see them clearly, and these are all
matters within the spirit.
There are some people who say, “I do
not know which are matters within the spirit and which are external
matters.” In the next phrase God says, “You should aim for the
state in which you see My Spirit and My fleshly self, My words and My
fleshly self, as one indivisible whole.” Is this not a matter
within the spirit? Now it appears that all matters which involve the
truth, and everything that counts as the truth—all these are matters
within the spirit. Having principles in doing work, is this not a matter
within the spirit? It is. Why is it a matter within the spirit? Putting
the truth into practice is a matter within the heart; it is not
something that emerges after just being called out aloud, nor is it
something that comes out of working hard with your hands. That is taking
hold of principles within your heart, knowing how to implement them
within your heart, knowing what to do, and knowing what kind of heart to
have. Afterward the heart will control the hands and control the mind,
and once you act in this way, people cannot understand it when they look
only at the surface. But you carry out the truth, and God looks upon
it, and sees that you have principles in doing your work. God praises
this, and all these things are matters within the spirit. In saying the
same things, there are some people who are lying, some who are speaking
the truth and genuine words—is this not a matter within the spirit? Some
matters are within the heart, and matters within the heart also involve
the spiritual world. If in your heart you act perfunctorily, or if in
your heart you resist God, or if you curse God in your heart, if your
heart is resentful of God, if there is contrariness in your heart, if
your heart has rebellion in it, then even when you are not saying this
out loud, it is still a matter of the spiritual world, and is also a
matter within the spirit. God looks into the bottom of people’s hearts,
and He knows all. There are some people who believe in God who suddenly
die, and everyone says, “The way this person believed was very good, and
he did not speak anything that showed resistance against God or
judgment of God, or any words of condemning God’s work. He believed very
well, so how did he die?” Is this not a matter within the spirit? No
one can see through this from the outside, but the person who died knows
in their heart: “I have resisted God.” They did not do this externally,
so nobody knew it, but their outcome has been revealed for what they
are, and God has established their outcome; these are all matters within
the spirit. There are some antichrists who do many and varied acts of
evil which are seen and distinguished by many people who understand the
truth, who determine them to be evil people and antichrists and so expel
them. Is this a matter within the spirit or not? It has been revealed
on the surface, and is a matter within the spirit. Some people say,
“When it is revealed on the surface, how is it still a matter within the
spirit?” They have not distinguished them. For people who have not
distinguished, it is a matter within the spirit, but as for those who
have distinguished them, they understand the truth, they are able to see
it. But the unbelievers still see them as good, and say, “How can you
expel such good people?” This is a matter within the spirit. These
people are antichrists, and they are people that have enmity for the
truth. If a label were put on their brains, that would not be a matter
within the spirit; since no label is put on them, common people and
people who do not understand the spirit cannot discern them. It is just
like there are some people whom I am able to see into as soon as I meet
them, and I say, “This is not a good person, this person is a devil!”
There are many chosen people of God who come into contact with them, and
say, “This person is not bad!” “Not bad?” I say, “You are blind, and
you have not seen into them. I have seen into them, and they are not
good people!” Is this not a matter within the spirit? Whether they
appear good or bad on the outside, you are able to see this, and that is
a matter of the flesh, whereas ordinary people are unable to see into
matters within the spirit.
As for knowing Christ, some people are
able to separate the words of Christ from His person, and consider that
the words are spoken by the Spirit, and that they all come out of the
Spirit, and are not spoken by the person, and are spoken by means of the
Spirit controlling the person. So they believe that this person is
still a common man, and only the Spirit that is speaking is the Spirit
of God. What problem does this separation reveal? If a person does not
understand the spirit, then he separates the word and the Spirit from
the person. Some people also say, “I submit to the word of Christ, I do
not submit to the person of Christ.” What is the problem in this? Do
people like this understand the spirit? Some say they don’t. Why is it
said that they don’t understand the spirit? Is there a basis for this?
Because the Spirit realized in the flesh and man obtaining the
revelation of the Holy Spirit are two separate issues. God’s incarnation
is the Spirit of God truly realized in the flesh, and apart from a life
of humanity, He is able to see through matters of the spiritual world,
not always needing the Holy Spirit for the revelation. This is God’s
incarnation. The Holy Spirit giving revelation to people indicates
people who are used by God or who have the work of the Holy Spirit, and
people that have the work of the Holy Spirit have revelation from the
Holy Spirit when it is necessary. When it is not necessary they are
still subject to human error. Sometimes the Holy Spirit makes revelation
to them, and sometimes He does not. God incarnate is not like this—He
directly expresses the truth, no matter in what time or place, so it is
called God realized in the flesh. People who have just accepted the work
of God cannot see through this matter; they say, “What this person says
cannot be said by ordinary people but truly has come out of the Holy
Spirit.” These words, “coming out of the Holy Spirit,” are easy to say,
but that which comes out of the Holy Spirit is differentiated into two
kinds. One kind is revelation of the Holy Spirit, which comes out of the
Holy Spirit. Another kind is the true realization of the Spirit of God,
the incarnation, which also comes out of the Holy Spirit. So which kind
of emergence out of the Holy Spirit is the incarnation, and which kind
is occasional revelation? People cannot differentiate these, and the
result is that they divide God’s incarnation into the word and the
person, with the person and the word being two different things. This
kind of division brings about a consequence, which is that a person
cannot submit to Christ, he cannot worship Christ, and in his heart he
does not revere Christ. Once you separate the word of Christ and the
person, that is equal to still believing in a vague God up in heaven,
and is not believing in the real God on earth. If a person divides
Christ into two parts—one part belonging to the Spirit and one part
belonging to the person—in making this division, is he certain of Christ
being the incarnation? He divides Christ into two parts: Christ
occasionally has the work of God, and at other times does not have the
work of God, and he considers Christ to be a common person. In this way,
can such a person truly submit to Christ? Can he honor Christ as great?
Can he worship Christ? If he cannot, the nature of this problem is very
severe. In what respect is it severe? Do you, after all, believe in the
practical God on earth? Do you believe in Christ or believe in a vague
God up in heaven? Once this problem emerges, your ending will be very
troublesome. If you do not believe in the practical God on earth, but
believe in a vague God up in heaven, that will subject you to being
dealt with in the same way as religious people—to sink into destruction.
God will not acknowledge your faith, and your faith will not be up to
the standard. Is this not troublesome?
God says, “You
should aim for the state in which you see My Spirit and My fleshly self,
My words and My fleshly self, as one indivisible whole, and make it so
that all of humanity will be able to satisfy Me in My presence.” These words “and make it so that all of humanity will be able to satisfy Me in My presence”
mean to make everyone who believes in Christ be able to reach a certain
condition: seeing the Spirit of God, the word of God, and the person as
one indivisible whole. What is the conclusion when you see Them as one
indivisible whole? Treat Christ as God, and do not treat Him as a man.
If you truly treat Him as a man, your faith is not up to the standard,
and you are not a person who believes in the practical God on earth, but
are a person who believes in the vague God up in heaven. Some people
say, “It’s true that I believe in the vague God up in heaven, but I also
believe in the word of God and I acknowledge that the origin of the
word of God is from God!” Can people with such a faith receive
salvation? Some say they cannot. Why? Because what they believe in is
not the practical God incarnate. If you do not believe in the practical
God incarnate, then the following words of condemnation will appear:
“You are a person who denies Christ and denies the appearance of God,
who denies the incarnate God.” Who is able to take these accusations
upon himself! Is this not the greatest trouble? No one can take these
accusations upon himself. Why is the religious community destroyed? Is
it not just because of denying the practical God incarnate? If you only
believe in the Spirit of God but do not believe in Christ, you are in
trouble. If you take God’s Spirit and the word together with the
person—the fleshly body of Christ—and see Them as one indivisible whole,
then this is acknowledging the practical God. You say, “This is the God
that I want to believe in, this is the God that I believe in, this is
Whom I hope to see, Who in the past was in heaven and has now again come
to earth to become a practical man—the practical God.” If what you
believe in is the practical God, and the practical God is your God in
your heart and is your Lord and your everything, then your faith is up
to the standard. Understand this! If you understand this, then you will
understand the words, “In matters within the spirit, you should
be delicately sensitive; to My words, you should be carefully attentive.
You should aim for the state in which you see My Spirit and My fleshly
self, My words and My fleshly self, as one indivisible whole, and make
it so that all of humanity will be able to satisfy Me in My presence.” Some people ask the meaning of the phrase, “and make it so that all of humanity will be able to satisfy Me in My presence.”
Does it satisfy God to see the Spirit of God together with the person,
and the word of God together with the person, as one indivisible whole?
What does this “as one indivisible whole” mean? It relates to whether
you acknowledge or not the practical God when He is standing right
before you. If you acknowledge Him, then God will acknowledge you, but
if you do not acknowledge Him then God will not acknowledge you. These
words are concealed inside, and are not spoken. As for the matters
within the spirit, if you are not delicately sensitive to them, can you
distinguish the meaning of this? Can you see to this level? If you are
not delicately sensitive to the matters within the spirit, and if you
only pay attention to the surface meaning of God’s words, and pass them
by after explaining them a little, this will allow so much meaning and
so many crucial problems to slip away. This is very dreadful! Is that
considered understanding and knowing the word of God? That is not what
is called being delicately sensitive—it is called leaving something out
by mistake, and if you are not delicately sensitive to the matters of
the spirit then you have left something out! If you allow the truth to
go missing, neglect the intention of God, and even when your eyes are
open you cannot see it, this means that you do not understand the
matters within the spirit! Can this allow major problems to slip away?
There are people who say, “You must see the Spirit together with the
person, and the word together with the person, as one indivisible whole.
They are one!” Why are They one? “Because the Spirit is truly realized
in the flesh, and everything that the flesh does is controlled by the
Spirit, so They are one.” Your answer here is right, and you have
understood quite well, but the crucial thing here is: Do you know what
the result is of the phrase “They are one”? Is that a theoretical
answer? It is not a theoretical answer; you must have this in your
heart, you must be certain that, “This incarnation of God is my Lord, is
my God, is the God of heaven come down and become man. He is the Lord I
want to believe in, the God I want to believe in, so to everything God
says I must submit. I must not only revere Him, but also must obey Him,
and I also want to worship Him.” Have you taken your faith in God to
this point? Can you truly worship Christ? This is much like Christ
coming right up to you among a group of people. How do you treat Him? Do
you dare to acknowledge Him? Can you bow down prostrate? If you say, “I
cannot lie prostrate, it will make people look poorly upon me,” then
that proves that in your heart you do not acknowledge He is your God and
that you do not have a heart of reverence! Acknowledging that “this
Christ is my Lord and my God” before those who hold power and
office—would you dare to speak this way? Do you have this courage and
valor inside you? If you are truly to be able to accomplish this much it
will illustrate that you truly take God’s Spirit together with His
person, and God’s word together with His person, and see Them as one
indivisible whole. It is truly treating Them as the practical God in
obedience and worship. Can ordinary people understand and see this
meaning? As for the matters within the spirit, if you are not delicately
sensitive to them, will you be able to see to this degree? If you
merely see the surface meaning of the words, this will not do. It falls
far short of the truth, and will not resolve any problems.
125-B-4
Knowing
God is the most profound lesson. When I say it is the most profound, in
what respect is that so? Because it is a matter within the spirit and
involves matters of the spiritual world, and the physical eye cannot see
nor perceive this. If you want to know a material object, this is
relatively easy, as the eye can see it. For that which the eye cannot
see, there are scientific tools such as telescopes and microscopes, but
there is no way to see that which telescopes and microscopes are not
enough for. Knowing God of the spiritual realm who is a spiritual body
and is also able to become God incarnate—this is difficult, and truly no
easy task. Is it easy to know a person? Having been in contact with him
for several years, you will be able to see through even that which he
still keeps inside, conceals deep within and does not reveal. At most it
takes eight or ten years, after which even a clever spy will reveal his
true nature. How much easier still, then, is it to see through a
husband, wife, son, daughter, or other person who is close to you?
However, knowing the incarnate God is not easy, nor is knowing merely
the same as acknowledging. There are some people who, when they have
read all of the word of God, say, “Alright, I’m convinced, it is the
word of God. If it were not God incarnate speaking all these words, then
what would God incarnate be? I believe this is God incarnate.” After
reading very much of the word of God, they acknowledge that God came
incarnate in the flesh, and this is easy, but does this represent
knowledge of God? Some say it doesn’t. Why does it not represent your
knowing God if you acknowledge the incarnate God, believing in heart and
speech? It is because God incarnate has expressed all the truths for
saving mankind, and as you have not experienced all these truths, you
have no knowledge, so you do not know the substance of Christ. How must
you know the divine substance of Christ? You must first experience these
words expressed by Christ, and when you know all these words, then you
can truly know God. These words expressed by Christ are very abundant,
and within them is everything that you need. They allow people to
greatly open up their vision. Experience and know them, for the
mysteries of all humanity are revealed in the words of Christ. How many
words and phrases do you know of these truths and these words? We are
not talking about all of the words, but it is also not simple for you to
know every subject of the words expressed by Christ. How many written
pieces are there of the word of God? Altogether there are several
hundred pieces of the word of God. If people want to know every single
sentence in these hundreds of pieces of the word of God, it would take
an entire lifetime to understand even a general sense. But if you can
figure out these subject headings, then that is considered having the
most knowledge of God. If you are able to know the words of God that we
communicate often, then you can be considered having the most knowledge
of God, and it is not easy to get to this point.
God says, “My wisdom is exercised based on Satan’s plots.”
Is it easy to know this phrase? Ordinary people will not understand
this sentence if they lack experience. There is another particularly
awesome sentence; in the last passage, God says, “Throughout the
universe and the limitless expanses of the firmament, the myriad things
of creation, the myriad things on earth, and the myriad things in
heaven are each and every one consecrating their whole strength for the
sake of My last stage of work.” How large is the scope of “the universe and the limitless expanses of the firmament”? Just this phrase is very hard to understand. In the sentence, “the
myriad things of creation, the myriad things on earth, and the myriad
things in heaven are each and every one consecrating their whole
strength for the sake of My last stage of work,” what, after all, does “the myriad things of creation”
refer to? Does the extent of the myriad things only encompass things on
earth? The scope of things on earth is too small, and the myriad things
in heaven are also within the whole universe and the heavenly
firmament, and there are also the myriad things in the vast oceans.
Look: “the myriad things of creation”—this phrase is
more than enough for people to know, and it is very difficult for people
to know! There is another phrase, God says: “Surely you do not wish to remain spectators on the sidelines, driven hither and yon by Satan’s forces?” What does “Satan’s forces” refer to? What does the phrase here, “driven hither and yon by Satan’s forces,” refer to? God also says here, “Satan is constantly devouring the knowledge that men hold of Me in their hearts.” What is it after all that Satan is doing? What result does it want to attain? God says, “Satan
is constantly devouring the knowledge that men hold of Me in their
hearts, and constantly, with teeth bared and claws unsheathed, engaged
in the last throes of its death struggle.” How should these words be explained? These words are very profound, and this is the great matter of the spiritual world!
God says, “Do
you wish to be captured by its deceitful stratagems at this moment? Do
you wish, at the moment that the last phase of My work is completed, to
cut off your own life?” What is the meaning of the question, “Do you wish, at the moment that the last phase of My work is completed, to cut off your own life?”
When the final work of God is completed, this humanity will come to an
end, and at that time the ending of man will be determined. If one has
not obtained the truth and life, then he belongs to those who have
forfeited their own lives. God says, “Surely you are not still waiting for Me to dispense My leniency one more time?”
Here it says that God’s leniency has been “dispensed,” and why does it
say “dispensed”? That means it is the special mercy of God, and God
deliberately dispenses it. If it were not dispensed, then people would
lose their lives and come to their ending earlier. Look at the words
below; God says, “Seeking to know Me is the key thing, but
neither should you neglect to pay attention to actual practice. I am
revealing insights to you directly in My words, in hopes that you will
be able to submit to My guidance, and cease to entertain aspirations or
designs of your own.” What does “cease to entertain aspirations or designs of your own”
mean here? Do not serve yourself, do not entertain designs of eating,
drinking, or wearing any clothing for the physical body, or plan later
on how to start a family. If you aspire to or plan anything for your
physical body, you will simply fail to achieve it and it will just
interfere with your progress, causing yourself to be ruined. Do you
understand these words? Should you or should you not make plans for your
physical body? What is included in making plans for the physical body?
Is it all the different kinds of things that you think of? Do these
words not all touch on matters within the spirit? The word of God
indicates matters within the spirit, so if you do not place importance
on the word of God then you will not know how to treat matters within
the spirit, or what being delicately sensitive to matters within the
spirit is, or in what way being delicately sensitive to these things is
suitable. If you do not know how to be delicately sensitive to matters
within the spirit, you cannot be earnest in your treatment or fathoming
of them, or make them clear and understandable so as to reach a point of
perfectly and thoroughly understanding them. Then mistakes will
certainly appear in people’s choices and ways of acting, and they may
deviate from the right way. When I speak like this, is it clear to you?
Let’s read another passage of God’s words, “I
have trodden the universe with My feet, stretching out My gaze over its
entire expanse, and I have walked in the midst of all mankind, tasting
the sweet, sour, bitter, and pungent flavors of human experience, but
man never truly recognized Me, nor did he notice Me as I walked abroad.
Because I was silent, and performed no supernatural deeds, because of
this no one ever truly saw Me.” When God says, “I have trodden the universe with My feet,” by the words “I have” He means things that He has already done, and this also includes the first time God became incarnate. “I
have trodden the universe with My feet, stretching out My gaze over its
entire expanse, and I have walked in the midst of all mankind, tasting
the sweet, sour, bitter, and pungent flavors of human experience, but
man never truly recognized Me, nor did he notice Me as I walked abroad.
Because I was silent, and performed no supernatural deeds, because of
this no one ever truly saw Me.” Man is quite apathetic and
dim-witted, and there is no one who seeks to know God, so why does God
speak in this way? First, this is a fact, and everything that God says
is a fact. Second, why does God always require people to know Him? There
are, perhaps, many people who do not understand these words. Why does
God often say the words, “man never truly recognized Me,” “no one ever truly saw Me,”
yet still demands that people should know God? This matter is richly
significant, so significant! Do you all think that people can fathom the
significance of knowing God? The significance is too deep, so no one
can fathom it! Some people may say, “Could it be that people must know
God while they are alive, and if they do not know God, then will they
not live in the same way?” What do you think of these words? If you do
not know God, you still will live, but what can be lived out in your
life? Can the significance of human life be lived out in your life? Can
the value of human life be lived out in your life? Can the likeness of a
real man be lived out in your life? Can you truly fathom the mysteries
of human life? You will not attain any of these. Then what other
mysteries does man have? The mysteries of man are also very profound,
and the significance of God creating man is very profound too! If you
truly do not place importance on knowing God, then when you have lived a
life among men and in the end have not known God, your whole life will
have been lived in vain. It will have had no significance, and it will
have been a life no different from those of animals and beasts, with no
distinction between high and low, or noble and lowly. In the eyes of
God, what kind of people can receive the blessing of God, what kind of
people can live out the meaning of man’s life in their lives, and which
kind of person obtains the greatest blessing? This is something that is
well prepared for people by God, but the majority of people do not
obtain it. It is like how a very rich mother and father treat their
children, “If you are truly able to honor me as your parent and truly be
considerate of my heart, and understand my mind, how good that would
be. I will cause you to enjoy the best wealth and status among people.
What a pity that you are insufficient in this, I pity you so much!” Do
mothers and fathers not have this way of thinking? But that said, no
matter how rich your parents are, what they give you to enjoy is still
limited, and only consists of material things—just power, status, and
fame—but after all, what is the greatest blessing that the Lord of
creation causes the humanity of His creation to be able to enjoy? That
significance is certainly of great profundity, so God demands that
people know Him, and there is great significance in this. That is the
intention of the Lord of creation, and the intention of the Lord of
creation toward humanity is certainly extremely profound in its
significance. Then if people do not obtain it, and do not enjoy it, will
they be able to fathom this matter? They will never be able to fathom
this, nor have any means to do so, because the power and deeds of the
Lord who created things cannot fundamentally be fathomed by mankind.
Even the heavenly emissaries and angels cannot fathom them, so how much
more difficult would it be for us who are within humanity and are
subject to creation? We truly cannot fathom them. So it can be said that
when God speaks this way, demanding people know Him, the significance
in this is too profound! To what degree does this profundity reach? It
can be said that it is mystery, in brief, that knowing Him is the matter
with the greatest significance, and this point is for certain.
Now
we can see what this corrupt humanity is able to attain—is it not very
limited? First, our lifespan is so limited, and it can be said that in
these four or five thousand years, the lifespan of people has always
been seventy or eighty years, and those who live for a hundred or so are
extremely rare cases, pretty much one in a hundred thousand or a
million. Ordinarily it is seventy years, and people who are robust can
get to eighty. Three thousand years ago, Moses made this matter known,
so certainly this was the case even three thousand years ago, because at
the time of Moses, it was just this way, and if we extend it back to
four or at most five thousand years ago, the lifespan of people was
within this range, more or less. Now, this lifespan, within the range of
this fixed limit of years—is it not so that what humanity can learn and
know in this period is too limited? It is too limited. Let us look at
the people of China some hundred years ago, or two or three thousand
years ago, what was the highest knowledge? It was that knowledge of the
Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Confucian way, the
learning of Confucius, and the knowledge of Mohism, was it not just
these things? Looking at it now, are the theories of Confucius not all
merely fallacy? They are nothing but fallacy! No one sees, hears, or
reads, and they are all untenable fallacies, and will get a person
nowhere. Confucius himself said that he was working for the sake of
protecting the benefit of the ruling class; he babbled on about such
wild misconceptions and theories, to trick the ruling class into giving
him a good position of power, so his learning and theories are all
totally fallacious. Scholars in China in the past one or two thousand
years all relied mainly on the way of Confucius and Mencius, and when
they had studied those old worn-out things they thought themselves to be
great intellectuals. What is all this with respect to the present?
There is no one studying those worn-out old things. What do people study
in the modern era? Humanity has become empty, and they study useless
things. But in the last days, when humanity is most empty, the work of
God establishes the Age of Kingdom, and has opened up a new era, and the
word of God appears just like a ray of the true light within the world
of darkness, and we chosen people of God begin to formally eat and drink
the word of God, and experience the work of God, and meet face to face
with God. Is this not a blessing from God for humanity? It is God caring
for and taking pity on humanity! In the last days, God personally
becomes flesh and expresses the truth to cleanse and save humanity, but
these words are spoken directed toward the people selected by God in the
last days, and indeed not spoken directed toward all of this corrupted
humanity. The work of God in the last days is indeed not in order to
save all of the corrupted humanity, so this stage of the work is very
hidden. What is the significance of God secretly descending to do work
among the people? It is to reveal Himself only to one part of humanity,
and not to everyone, so most people do not know even after having seen
Him, and not understand even after having heard Him. This is what
happens. Is this not a matter of the spiritual world? It is all a matter
of the spiritual world and a matter within the spirit, and one must be
delicately sensitive to this matter! There are some people who say, “I
am eager for when scientists come to accept this; I cannot wait for
intellectuals to accept this, eager for the entire religious world to
come accept this, eager for all the unbelievers who acknowledge the
existence of God to come accept this.” This “eagerness” that you speak
of is not the intention of God, and not what God has planned and so is
of no use. If it were that way, then God would not be hidden, and He
would simply perform several great signs and wonders and descend in the
open. God would speak directly with a thunderclap from heaven, and all
people would come to believe in God, and what use would our spreading
His gospel and bearing witness be then? One must understand the
intention of God, and must be delicately sensitive to matters within the
spirit, and not substitute one’s own conceptions and imaginations for
the intention of God, for it is falseness and bias on the part of man.
125-B-5
Later on, the word of God continues: “Things
are not now as they once were: I am going to do things that, since the
beginning of creation, the world has never seen, I am going to speak
words that, throughout the ages, men have never heard, because I ask
that all humanity come to know Me in the flesh. These are steps in My
management, about which humanity has not the faintest inkling. Even when
I speak of them openly, man is still so befuddled in his mind that it
is impossible to articulate them to him in every detail. Herein lies
man’s abject lowliness, does it not? This is precisely what I wish to
remedy in him, is it not?” What is “man’s abject lowliness”? It
is that people do not understand the intention of God, and even when
God’s words are spoken as clearly as this, people are still befuddled in
their minds. What does it mean for a person to be “befuddled in his
mind”? Not being able to comprehend the word of God, but being muddled
and seeming as if not yet awakened, and being unable to understand the
word of God. When God says, “These are steps in My management,” what are the steps in God’s management? That is, what work is God’s work in the last days? “I am going to do things that, since the beginning of creation, the world has never seen,”
the things God will do are things that no one has never seen before,
since the world was created, and God will speak words that, throughout
the ages, men have never heard. This work done by God in the last days,
and these things done by God and these words spoken by God—are they not
things that no one has seen or heard in all the succession of
generations? Had Moses ever heard such words? Had Peter ever heard such
words? Had Peter seen these things done by God? People in the religious
world say, “We do not acknowledge these words that were not written in
the Bible, and do not accept them.” Is this not a clear proof? The work
of God in the last days is to do what “since the beginning of creation, the world has never seen,” and it is to say what “throughout the ages, men have never heard,”
so what does this phrase prove to be fulfilled? God always does new
things, and He does not repeat anything in deed or word, and does not
repeat any work. God is always new and never old! People have no way to
fathom God’s almightiness and omniscience. He is continuously speaking
new words and doing new things, and never repeats anything. In how many
years and ages, can it be guaranteed that the work of God will not be
repeated? Can people fathom it? Eternally it will not repeat, because
God is almighty. So today we see these words that God expressed—are they
words that “throughout the ages, men have never heard”?
One hundred percent, of course they are! The words that God has
expressed throughout the ages are relatively limited, but the words that
God expresses in the last days surpass all the words that He has
expressed before. This is a fact, and people have seen this. Some people
say, “Later, when the Millennial Kingdom comes to be, will God still be
sending forth utterances?” Will God speak or not? What characterizes
the Age of the Millennial Kingdom? It is the Age of Word. God will use
His words to lead all of humanity on earth for a thousand years. But is
that a mere thousand years on earth? What does a millennium represent?
It is just a number, the Millennial Kingdom could also be a thousand
years or two thousand years, or it could be three or five thousand
years. It does not say specifically how many years it is, in the end
whether it is a thousand or two thousand years; it is simply called the
Millennial Kingdom. Is the Millennial Kingdom that God spoke of the
number of a thousand years in human terms? No one can fathom this, no
created being either in heaven or on earth can fathom it. If God does
not say this no one would understand, and one must understand this
matter well. What goal does God hope to achieve in doing work such as
this? Below, it says, “because I ask that all humanity come to know Me in the flesh.”
This is the age of God’s incarnation, and God asks that all men should
know the incarnate God, everyone on earth know the incarnate God, all
submit to the authority of God’s incarnation, and in the end most people
be able to know God and attain to a love of God. God will have been
completely glorified on earth, it can be said that the will of God will
have been done on earth as it is in heaven. When you look today at the Church of Almighty God, is the will of God carried out on earth or not?
It is carried out on earth just as it is in heaven. In the Church of
Almighty God, are there people who in public disobey and go against God?
There are none, they have all been eliminated and expelled. There are
people who say, “There are certainly already some who have been
expelled, but there are some antichrists, false leaders, and wicked
people still hiding themselves in secret.” Those hiding in secret—how
long can they hide? Everything is revealed for what it is with God. Do
they dare to block the will of God from being carried out? Do they dare
to disturb and interrupt the work of the house of God? They do not dare.
In case they dare even a little to do so, the church will expel them
immediately, so even if there is a small number of other false leaders
and antichrists, they cannot block the carrying out of the will of God,
and furthermore they dare not disturb or interrupt the work of God. As
soon as they are not well behaved at all or make the slightest move,
they will be detected by people. As soon as they make one move, they
are exposed, brought out and expelled, and so Satan has already
collapsed, powerless. This is not merely a matter within the spirit, but
is also a manifest matter, and is a matter that all the chosen people
of God can see.
Let’s continue our reading of the word of God. It says: “All
these years, I have not worked anything upon man; all these years, even
those who were in direct touch with My incarnate flesh never heard the
voice coming directly from My divinity.” This indicates the incarnate God in the Age of Grace. “Those who were in direct touch with My incarnate flesh”
means those who came into contact with the Lord Jesus, and all the
Lord’s disciples came into contact with Him. But in the phrase “never heard the voice coming directly from My divinity,” what does “the voice coming directly from My divinity”
refer to? All the mysteries in the spiritual realm, and the mysteries
of God’s management plan in His work, and the procedures in God’s work,
He is speaking these things directly, and this is “the voice coming directly from My divinity.” You must understand that it is not ordinary talk of communicating with the truth! What part does “the voice coming directly from My divinity”
mainly point to in “The Word Appears in the Flesh”? “God’s Utterances
to the Entire Universe” is all utterance in divinity. “The Words of the
Son of Man Incarnate as He Walked in the Churches” is the utterance in
humanity. Many utterances in His humanity, in reality, are also words in
divinity, because the words of Christ are all the direct utterances of
the Holy Spirit. “And so it is unavoidable that human beings should be lacking in their knowledge of Me,”
and what is the most important reason for this? God was once
incarnated, and although people had come into contact with His flesh,
they had never heard God making utterances directly in divinity. And for
this reason, even if people directly came into contact with the
incarnation, it is still hard to avoid lacking knowledge of God. If God
were not speaking or doing work, no one would know Him, and if what God
said was very sparse or if what He did was very little, people would
only know Him a little. If God speaks and does a lot, then people’s
knowledge of God will be more. This is exactly how it is! But
experiencing God’s work in the same way, and eating and drinking and
communicating the word of God in the same way, some people have true
knowledge of God, and some people do not have their ideas straightened
out and do not have such understanding. How does this happen? It is a
difference in caliber. If a person’s caliber is good, then what he gains
is much. For those who seek the truth with a special love for the
truth, what they gain is much. What those who do not seek the truth gain
is only a little. For those whose caliber is deficient, even if they
search, they gain even less than those who have a good caliber. This is
the case. There are some people who, even though they search, do not
gain very much; this is because their caliber is deficient. There are
some people who have already experienced and followed, while they gain
only a little, and this is because they do not seek. These are the two
reasons. Then why are there some people of good caliber who do not seek
very much? They do not love the truth, and always think, “What use is
the truth? What use is seeking to know God, and what can be gained by
that, and who has seen this? Peter received the praise of God, but I
have not seen Peter enjoying anything.” They always rely on their eyes
to see, and how troublesome this is! Tell me, where is Peter now? Do you
know? He is in the heavenly kingdom! There are some people who were
lifted up into the kingdom of heaven and walked around it, seeing Peter,
Abraham, and Job all there in the kingdom of heaven, while Paul is in
hell, and the famous people and Emperors of past ages, even including
Shakyamuni Buddha and the Pope of Catholicism, are all in hell. Tell me,
is this true or not? This is a matter within the spirit. People who do
not understand the spirit say, “How have I not seen it? I also believe
that this is the truth, but I have not seen it.” That is also a matter
of the magnitude of one’s faith. In merely believing and acknowledging
without seeing, can he have any strength even if he seeks? Of course he
will have no strength. If you believe one hundred percent in your
spirit, you can say, “That is true, I have no need to rely on the eye to
see. One hundred percent, the words of God are very accurate, and with
God there aren’t any lies whatsoever. What Satan says is all lies,
whereas with God everything is the truth. God is absolutely trustworthy,
so that which I most believe in is the word of God.” If you believe one
hundred percent in the word of God, then as such a person you are
blessed. You are guaranteed to be able to seek the truth, because you
believe in the word of God. It is only true faith once you believe that
the word of God is all the truth, that the word of God is all real, and
that all of the word of God will be realized. Merely acknowledging God’s
existence, one hundred percent and without any doubt, is not real
faith. The religious world has just this kind of faith. They merely
believe in the existence of God, saying, “There truly is a God, one
hundred percent, this we do not doubt at all!” But when the word of God
comes, they do not acknowledge that, and say, “This is not the word of
God!” When they receive Christ in the last days and read the word of
God, they say, “I see these words are not in the Bible, so they are all
not the words of God.” Look, do they have faith in God? That amount of
their faith can only acknowledge that God is in heaven and only
acknowledge that God is true, and this is not merely legend and myth,
nor is it a lie. But this amount of faith is not up to the standard, and
it cannot cause them to receive salvation. If people in the religious
world are all annihilated one day, and thrown into the calamity, there
are some people who will still cry out in grief for them and believe
that God is unjust. What is the problem here? Can it be that you do not
believe in the righteousness of God? God causes other people’s children
to be annihilated, and you praise God; God causes your enemies to be
destroyed, and you praise God as being righteous. But if God causes your
father and mother to be destroyed—two wicked people that do not believe
in God—you would doubt the righteousness of God. Does this kind of
person know God? Not even in the slightest could they know God! In
believing only in a vague God, seeming to have true faith in a vague God
up in heaven, why can they not receive salvation? They do not have
knowledge of the real God, and do not acknowledge the real God, so what
difference is there between them and those who do not acknowledge that
there is a God, and indeed resist God? There is simply no difference. So
people who merely acknowledge that there is a God have no worth. Those
who believe in evil spirits and in the devil all acknowledge that there
is a God, and is that true faith? That kind of faith is of no worth
whatsoever! So if a person merely acknowledges God up in heaven, and
only believes in a vague God, is he not the enemy of God? Is he not
somebody who hates the truth? Is it not this kind of person who nails
the incarnate God on the cross? It is exactly this kind of person. These
kinds of people can nail Christ on the cross, so are they not the
enemies of God? They are the enemies of God, and God will not grant them
salvation, is this correct? This is God’s righteousness. If you can
truly see this point, then one day when the religious world is
destroyed, you will not cry out in grief on their behalf, but you will
clap your hands and exclaim in happiness, “Today I finally have seen
that God is righteous, God’s righteousness is not false at all, nor is
it empty at all!” If you want to attain this result, is it alright to
not have any knowledge of God? On what basis is true faith produced? It
is established on the basis of having knowledge of God. How is a heart
that has true love of God produced? It is also produced on the basis of
having knowledge of God. If a person has no true knowledge of God, then even if he wishes to love God he will not be able to.
In
the first few years after God began to work, this truth was already
being communicated, and there were some people who said, “How is it this
difficult to love God? I cannot succeed in loving Him.” At that time
people thought, “If you do not love God when faced with such great
salvation from God, you are a type of person who has no conscience, you
are not human at all.” Is it considered having knowledge of God to say
these kinds of words? One could say that this kind of person has a bit
of humanity, and that is why he gives such a response, and that these
words are still correct. However, this is not considered having
knowledge of God. At that time, I too communicated it in this way
without having any knowledge. But now analyzing this matter in
hindsight, why is a person not able to succeed in loving God? Even if
you have believed in God for many years, then if you have no knowledge
of God you will not be able to love Him, and what little love you have
will be the shallowest. What is the shallowest love? Because you have
enjoyed some of God’s grace, you have endured criticism and urging in
your conscience, and this has gotten you to want to repay a bit of God’s
love in your heart. It is just this little amount of love. Can just
this small amount of love express loyalty to God? One day when the
judgment and chastisement and trial come upon you, you will snivel
passively and weakly, and be unable to love God. People who truly love
God are still able to praise God right before they are nailed to the
cross, and when the trial befalls them they are still able to extol God.
Only these are called people who have true love of God! When the trial
is before such a person, even if he cannot feel God’s intention, he
still feels, “God is worthy of man’s love, and God is the most lovely
God, and nothing can cause me to deny God’s loveliness. God’s true
substance is of the utmost loveliness.” Some people put some truths into
practice, and say, “This practice of truth is so much better than life
in the satanic disposition, there is enjoyment, and so much peace in the
heart. There is joy, and there is gratitude!” You have done many things
in order to attain your own goals, and sometimes even if you are in a
state in which your flesh is satisfied, and you have attained your
goals, your spirit still feels more and more empty. What is the reason
for this? You have committed no sin, so why do you feel empty? Because
what is satisfied is the flesh, and your spirit suffers pain. The
feeling of emptiness comes from within your spirit; it is not produced
by your flesh. When you have sought for a long time to buy a nice
article of clothing or a precious treasure that is beloved to you, you
think, “Once I have obtained this thing, maybe I will feel great joy and
happiness in my heart!” But when you have actually obtained it, and
have taken it into your hand, how is your heart still pained and devoid
of pleasure? How did this happen? Who can explain this? What you have
made satisfied is your flesh, and there is no happiness. Why do
unbelievers live in a state of desires of the flesh, or in sin, and in
the end feel that they have no joy and no peace, and begin to take drugs
to solve their own emptiness? They indulge in their desires of the
flesh, even when they reach a climax they still have no pleasure. They
say, “Tell me, how did this happen? What is pleasure in human life? What
are peace and joy? They don’t exist, so I might as well take some
drugs!” Right when they begin to take drugs, they have ended their own
lives. How did people who take drugs, begin to do so? Most people start
taking drugs this way: They have money, they have status, they have
fame, they have big houses, they have fancy cars, they dally with men
and women, and in the end they begin taking drugs. This is just the way
they were looking for. They wonder what is actually most able to give
people pleasure, and what is actually able to satisfy people’s needs in
their hearts? They have toyed with the flesh to its fullest extent, and
are still empty. In the end they have still not found an answer, and in
the end they have reached just one conclusion, and what is this
conclusion? That living is a kind of slavery, and death is complete
happiness, and that only in death can one have complete happiness! Death
is a release, and release is something to be enjoyed. They have arrived
at this conclusion. What does this explain? Their life is a failure, an
utter and complete failure!
125-B-6
Now we
have known something about how to experience God’s work. The most
important thing that is necessary in satisfying the needs in the spirit
is being able to satisfy God on the basis of God’s word, and in this way
one then finally has true enjoyment, and true peace. Is this not a
matter of the greatest happiness? Some people ask what it means to
satisfy the needs in the spirit. It just means to satisfy God. Once you
satisfy God, you will be happy and full of enjoyment within your spirit,
for God is the source of man’s spirit and man’s life, and the origin of
the feeling within the spirit is all from God! If God were to give you
a feeling of emptiness, you would not be able to break free of it, and
you would always feel this emptiness. But if God were to make you feel
pleasure in your spirit, then it would be just like feeling the pleasure
of enjoying God’s presence and the blessings of God. So the feeling
within the spirit originates in God! Why do we speak of it this way? God
is the source of the life of all things! If people are able to
thoroughly know this very word and this very truth, then they will know
what is most urgent to satisfy. They will know how man’s peace and man’s
happiness are produced, and by whom they are decided. Is the feeling
when you finish carrying out the truth the same as when you attain
fleshly desires? Why do we say it is not the same? Is there a basis for
this in the word of God? If you can find a basis in the word of God,
then that explains that you know those words of God. If you cannot find a
basis, then you have no knowledge of the word of God. So seek out a
basis from within the word of God—why is there no real happiness in
satisfying the flesh? There are certain things in satisfying the flesh
that are not sins, and since they are not sins, why is there no
happiness or true enjoyment, and why does one still feel empty? How does
this happen? Who can explain this matter thoroughly? This is a matter
within the spirit, so can you see through it thoroughly? If you cannot
see through it then your experience is too shallow.
Why should
people practice the truth, why should they obtain the truth? Why is it
only the truth that can be man’s life? What is the new life that is
granted to man by God? It is the truth. What is the truth? In the Age of
Grace when Pontius Pilate was interrogating the Lord Jesus, the Lord
Jesus said, “I am the truth.” When Pontius Pilate heard these words, he
said, “Truth? If You are the truth, then what is the truth?” He shook
his head, not understanding, and said, “I have seen it, Jesus is without
guilt, and I should release Him. He has come for the sake of the truth,
and was born for the truth.” In the end he could not fathom the truth.
Not only could Pontius Pilate not fathom it, but within all of humanity
there is no one able to fathom it. Even up to the present, when we now
know where the truth comes from, is there anyone who truly understands
what the truth really is? Everyone’s understanding of this is very
limited. What I understand is very limited, and very shallow, but even
these limited things are very precious and are all because of God’s
grace and mercy. Now let us fellowship about this using our superficial
knowledge! What is the truth? Once you say this, there will be people
who say, “The truth is just God’s word, and God’s word is just the
truth.” Is it good to speak of it in this way? These words do not
represent they have knowledge. These are true words, and are the words
of God, but they do not represent that you have knowledge of the truth.
If you are to say something that contains knowledge, then what is the
truth? According to what little we understand, we can speak definitely
that the truth is indeed all that God has and is, is a part of what
constitutes God’s life, and is the reality of positive things; it is
absolutely true, and therefore it is able to become man’s life. If
people have obtained the truth and have it as their life, then they are
the most precious among created beings, they are the most precious
created beings, and they have far surpassed all the lives of aliens, and
far surpassed the life of all other created beings. This little is what
we are able to see, and it does not represent any true knowledge. It is
just what we can see. Today this corrupted humanity appears very lowly,
and not much higher even than animals, because they have no truth or
life. But God takes mercy on this humanity. God cares for this humanity,
because when He created humanity it was with intention, and He will
achieve this intention. He will accomplish it, so in the last days God
does such a stage of work. That is to say, God will bestow a part of
humanity with true life, eternal life, that is, the truth. All these
truths belong to matters of the spiritual world, and they are all in the
word of God. In which parts of the word? Look at which words represent
all that God has and is, which words are the expression of all that God
has and is and are the expression of God’s disposition—these words are
the truth and can become man’s life, and they are prepared to be man’s
life. In the word of God, are there many of these words? There are many.
Indeed, there are many! If you read a section of the word, there are
several phrases. If you read another section of the word, there are
several other phrases, and these words are of the utmost importance! For
example, when God says, “I am the Beginning and the End,”
what does this mean? People say, “‘The Beginning,’ ‘the End.’ ... Oh!
God used the word to create the heavens and the earth and all therein.
God is the Beginning, God initiated this humanity and initiated this
world. In the earliest time when He began to create all things, there
was only God’s existence; in the end, God wants to bring the old age to
an end, God wants to end this humanity that has been corrupted by Satan,
end this age, and conclude all of the old creation, so it is still God
that brings the age to an end.” There are people who say, “Now Satan has
corrupted man for some thousands of years, and what is the future
result?” What words can be used to explain this? “God is the Beginning and the End.”
“God is the End” means that God will end this old age in which Satan
corrupts humanity, that He will terminate every evil one that belongs to
Satan, He will terminate this evil regime of the great red dragon, and
He will terminate all evil people and politicians that have power on
earth, so He is the Beginning and the End. Remember that in the very end
these demons will not be able to control humanity, and they must be
destroyed, because God is the End. Is it right to use these words here?
Will you not have faith when we speak like this here? This is called
true faith. Once you see the prophecy, you will say, “The things that
happen now were already spoken of by God earlier, and the things we see
now were all scheduled well in advance by God. Since they were scheduled
by God, God has already made clear what the ending of these things is.
Since God has explained them clearly, and yet I have still not seen
them, should I believe them?” The magnitude of man’s faith lies in this.
Do you not have faith that the word of God will accomplish everything?
Do you not believe that God created the beginning and will complete the
end? Do you not believe that God is the Sovereign of all? If you do not
believe then do you have true faith? You do not have true faith. So no
matter how evil this world is, no matter how darkened it is, you have
faith that God will certainly bring an end to it, and it will not take
long for this world to reach its ending.
Some people say, “These
kings of devils are especially cunning now, so can God control them?
What if they do not act in accordance with God’s intention?” All people
have once had these doubts, but do not forget that God is almighty, God
is the Creator of the beginning and the Achiever of the end, God is the
Sovereign of everything, and no created thing can escape from the grip
of the hand of God. Even though Satan is cunning, it is just a pawn in
the hand of God. Is this not the truth? There are people who also say,
“This is just a theory; how can God achieve this?” I will say something
very simple: Tell me, are those great people and kings of devils able
today to know the weather of tomorrow or the day after? They do not
know. Do they know what kinds of obstacles may appear in their affairs
tomorrow or the day after? They also do not know. Can they know what
conditions may arise on their body tomorrow or the day after? Can they
foresee what things may occur within the next several years? They
cannot. Since there are these several unknowns, can they break free of
the grip of the hand of God? They cannot break free, this is true. There
is still another fact: Is man not under the control of the spirit? If a
person is possessed by a spirit, can he control himself? Can he control
himself and not be dominated by the spirit? He cannot control it. So
when God was creating the physical bodies of people, these physical
bodies had one function which is to be able to receive the control of
the spirit. This is a pattern that is predestined. Sometimes God sends a
spirit to go and lead some king to do certain things, and when the
spirit goes there it controls the king to do this or that thing. Does
this appear in history or not? It is recorded very clearly in the Bible
which matters Jehovah God dispatched a spirit to go and complete. So,
all things that happen to humanity are predestined by God, and special
things are all completed by a spirit dispatched by God, and all people
who are of the flesh are subject to the control of the spiritual world,
and all must be controlled by the spirit. When under the control of the
spirit, they are not acting of their own volition, and they cannot see
the spirit entering into their bodies or how it controls them, and they
are just like a robot that is completely under man’s control. In
speaking like this, will everything that God expressed in the prophecy
not all be fulfilled and come about as predicted? This is a very
uncomplicated matter, it is very uncomplicated for God, and these
prophecies will come about as predicted. If you have seen God do these
things in the Bible, can you believe that all of God’s words and
prophecies will be accomplished? So, looking at it from this fact, how
is man’s faith produced? It is produced from the word of God. Once
people know God’s word, they increase in faith in God, so the word of
God says, “His word becomes man’s faith, His word becomes man’s love.”
This is the result that God will achieve in the work of the last days.
How can His word become man’s faith? How can His word become man’s love?
It is attained through people’s experience, understanding, and
knowledge of God’s word. When you have experienced all of the word of
God, you see that the word of God is all that God has and is. It is all
the expression of God’s disposition. These aspects of what God has and
is are all very precious, and if people are able to live them out, if
people are able to live in reliance on them, would that not also be
living out what God has and is? Then man’s life would be quite advanced
and precious. There may be people who misunderstand and say, “If people
live out some of what God has and is, would they not become God?” Are
these words correct? Some people say they are not correct. Why are they
not correct? Whoever knows this matter is really something. Is this
matter easy to know? All that God has and is is so abundant, and if you
are able to live out just this little of it, that would be like a drop
in the ocean. If you live out a drop in the ocean, are you able to
become the ocean? You are too arrogant. Do you understand why a person
is not able to become God if he lives out a little of what God has and
is? You think God is just this little of what He has and is? This is one
drop in the ocean of God’s life, and is very limited. If people live
out this little, it is too shallow, and this is like a drop in the ocean
if you compare it to the substance of God’s life. So if people live out
this little of it, they cannot become God; it is just living out a
little of what God has and is. In having this little part of the image
of the truth, and thinking you will become God, you are too arrogant,
too lacking in reason! Some religious people reason on the basis of this
logic, and once they reason this way they become a person who resists
God. They want to become God, and always think of becoming God. When God
said God created man in His image, this kind of person says, “God
created God in His own image,” and is this not an absurd explanation of
the word of God? Is this not something that just comes out of people’s
logic and speculations? Of course, that He created a kind of people, a
very advanced humanity, does not mean He created God. God did not say,
“I will bestow all that I have and am, and the substance of My life to
people, and will incorporate it into people.” When God says it is
according to His image that He created man, how much of God’s image is
this, after all? Is it one drop in the ocean or the entirety of the
ocean? God did not say, so you cannot say this. When you talk that way,
it is easy to make mistakes through using logic. What percentage of the
substance of God’s life are the words of God and what God has and is
that God expressed to humanity? There is no way to say it. In short, it
is just a drop in the ocean, and this way of describing it is relatively
accurate. You can also not say that it is one percent, nor can you say
that it is one-ten-thousandth. If you say that it is one-ten-thousandth,
that is seeing God as too little, and you will have underestimated God,
you will have blasphemed against God! Saying it is one part out of
billions is close, and is pretty near. If people can live out that
little, just one part out of billions of what God has and is, and think
they can become God, is this not too ignorant and arrogant? You cannot
rely on people’s notions to explain this! There are some matters within
the spirit that are not the same as matters of material substance, and
when people use logic and notions to explain them they make major
mistakes, and in doing this people become idiots and cause trouble. Can
you say that the people who claim that “living out some part of the
image of God, one will become God” are people who know God? First, they
do not understand the meaning of the words that God spoke. Second, they
have not thoroughly seen the abundance of God’s life, but have
underestimated God’s life, and it seems they have seen God’s life as
something that is too limited. You see how religious people often say
one phrase: “The word of God is only in the Bible, and nowhere else.”
Are these words blasphemy against God? Can those words in the Bible
represent God? They cannot even represent one-ten-thousandth of God, and
you might only say one part out of billions or a drop in the ocean. So
people who say these words are idiots, and really do not know God!
Saying that they do not know God is not false at all! Almighty God came
and expressed these many words in the last days, which God had not
spoken since the creation of the world. If they do not know or
acknowledge these words, how much more so is this not knowing God. God’s
words are so clear, but they cannot recognize they are the words and
voice of God. Yet they still dare to boast and say that they know God
and understand the Bible. How arrogant, ignorant and stupid they
actually are!
125-B-7
The matter of knowing
God is very profound, and the little that we know is very superficial.
So no matter how much of God’s work you experience, should anyone dare
to say that he has any knowledge of God? He cannot say that! If he says
this then he will be disgraced. Today I have communicated this and that
to you, and there are people who think, “This brother understands more
than we do, this brother knows God!” You are wrong to say this. I do not
dare to say this—I do not know God, I only have some experience and
have some shallow and superficial knowledge. I do not acknowledge that I
am someone who knows God, as I am not qualified. I just have this
little amount of experience and this shallow knowledge, and it is not
enough to know God. You must understand! To whatever stage you have
experienced, no matter how the Holy Spirit works, and even if people
hear you communicate and they feel it is quite advantageous, in no
circumstances should you say that you know God, because you yourself
know that you have only reached to a certain shallow level. You are
clear in your heart about what level you have experienced to; while
other people do not know, do you yourself not know?
True faith is
produced by having some knowledge of God, and true love of God is also
produced by having some knowledge of God. Is this not the case? So if we
want to attain having true faith in God, that is, our faith is up to
the standard in the eyes of God, how should we seek to have this kind of
faith? How should we seek to have true love of God? The most important
thing is to seek to know God, this is for certain. In seeking to know
God, how should you seek? It is just seeking the truth! If in believing
in God you do not seek the truth, then this faith of yours is in vain
and is deviant. In this you have not entered into the right track and
the right road of belief in God, and it is only as a person who seeks
the truth that you can have true faith in God. You should be able to
accept this kind of statement! There are many people who believe in God
for twenty or thirty years and do not understand the truth, and they do
not have the truth. Can you say they are people who have true faith in
God? Is it not a contradiction that people who have true faith in God,
if they believe for twenty or thirty years, do not understand the truth
and have no knowledge of God? This sentence makes no sense! When people
who do not understand the truth speak, they are only contradicting
themselves. Suppose someone says, “On the whole I am counted as a person
who seeks the truth.” And someone else says, “In seeking the truth, for
how many years have you believed?” “Twenty or so years.” “How much of
the truth have you understood?” “I can’t say I understand the truth.”
What problems have arisen? Is this not contradicting themselves? Is this
not slapping themselves in the face? Some people pick up a Bible and
say, “Do you know how many years I have read this Bible, how much I have
yellowed its pages with use, and worn out all the pages!” Someone else
says, “This is indeed not false—this Bible has been yellowed and worn
out quite thoroughly. So, then, do you have knowledge of God?” “I do not
have any knowledge.” Is this not contradicting oneself? You have worn
out and yellowed all the pages of this Bible, but can this represent you
having knowledge of God? That is just an external matter, and it is of
no use even if you have yellowed or worn all the pages out. If you had
not flipped through it, and not worn out the pages, or worn all the
pages yellow yet had still obtained the truth, that would also be
knowing God. Having the truth does not consist in having believed for a
certain number of years. At the least you can obtain the truth in eight
or ten years, and at the most you can obtain the truth in thirty or
fifty years. Some people had believed for seventy or eighty years and
still did not have the truth, and had not obtained the truth straight up
to their deaths. How can this be explained? In short, having said all
this, a person must be pragmatic in his belief in God, and must seek to
know God, and if he believes in such a way for one year he will truly
gain a full year’s harvest! If you do not seek to know God, if you do
not seek to know God in the words of God, this is having faith in vain.
No matter how many years you believe it will all be to no avail.
Let’s go on reading the words of God. “Daily
you pray to a vague God, trying to grasp My intentions, to get the feel
of life. But, when My words actually come down, you look at them
differently: You take My words and My Spirit as one indivisible entity,
but you kick the man aside, thinking that the man that I am is simply
incapable of uttering words of this kind, and that they are rather the
result of My Spirit’s disposing. How would you know about a situation
like this?” Does this not cause trouble? As for “daily you pray to a vague God”—there
are some people who say, “What I pray to is the name of Almighty God,
so how is this praying to a vague God?” Are these words correct? You do
not see into this thoroughly. There are some people who say, “Praying to
the Lord Jesus is vague, and praying to Jehovah God is even more vague,
and it is only praying to Almighty God that can be true prayer and
through which one is finally able to have faith in a practical God!” Are
these words correct? Some say they are not correct. Why are they not
correct? Do you think that in praying to Almighty God it is not praying
to a vague God? If you do not pray to Christ, and you do not treat
Christ as Almighty God, but take the Spirit to be Almighty God, then in
this kind of prayer are you praying to a practical God or praying to a
vague God? Explain this! “In matters within the spirit, you should be delicately sensitive.”
Is this not a matter within the spirit? If you get unbelievers to
explain this matter, they cannot explain it, because they do not
understand it, and the more they hear it the more they are lost. If you
believe in Almighty God for several years, are you able to understand
this matter? You cannot explain it clearly! Once you separate the Spirit
and the man, and the word and the man, even if you pray to the name of
Almighty God you are still believing in a vague God. I will give another
very simple example: One day I was dealing with a person, and when I
was done he said in his heart, “I submit to God, but I do not submit to
man. You are a man, you are not God.” He did not say this with his
mouth, but he said this in his heart. Tell me, does this person have
knowledge of God? Some say he does not. Why do you say that he has no
knowledge of God? You do not know! You merely say he does not have it,
but you just understand this theoretically. Why do I say that you do not
know God? It is because there are some things that you cannot
distinguish whether or not they come from God. There is a passage in the
word of God that says: “In work and matters of the church,
apart from obeying God, in everything you should follow the instructions
of the man who is used by the Holy Spirit. Even the slightest
infraction is unacceptable. You must be absolute in your compliance, and
must not analyze right or wrong; what’s right or wrong has nothing to
do with you. You must only concern yourself with total obedience.”
What is the meaning of these words? People still do not understand! If
God wants to complete a matter and attain a result, regardless of
whether a person thinks it is right or wrong it is absolutely allowed
for the man used by the Holy Spirit to act in this way. No matter what
he does, through it God intends to perfect you as an obedient person. No
matter what notions you have, God requires this of you. You say, “If
what he does comes from God, it is in accord with truth, and I will
obey. If by chance it comes from man, should I obey it? How could it be
that what he does represents God?” What is it that you are saying, do
you know? Your experience is too shallow, and you cannot see into this.
Is that not right? If you use your notions to try to examine this, is
this not a mistake? You are able to use your notions to examine external
matters, but you cannot use human notions, imagination, and reason to
examine matters within the spirit. You must simply obey. This is the
administrative decree of God, the administrative decree and principle of
the Age of Kingdom, so do you dare to nitpick and quibble about faults?
You truly have ability, and no small amount of courage! If you dare to
quibble about faults, then that is trouble. There are some things about
which, after nitpicking them, you have some notions, and God is not
serious with you. But as for some other things, do you dare to find
fault with them? After you are done finding them you will die, and your
death will be imminent. How dreadful that is! “Whoever resists will die!”
is fulfilled in this matter. Is God’s disposition in this? For very
trivial matters you say, “I have a notion, I have an imagination!” God
will say, “You disobedient son!” God will not respond to you. If you
really offend the administrative decree of God, you will die
immediately. Do you dare to test God on these matters? Do you dare to
doubt? What is that commonly called? You are courting disaster, you are
resentful at dying so slowly! Is it difficult to hear these words? If it
is difficult, then why do I say things like this? This is just how it
is. When I have explained these words to you they have some benefit for
you. When you are done hearing them you feel that this is how it is, and
say, “I must learn to obey, I must have a heart of reverence for God!
This is very serious, this is the real matter!” I am telling you, there
are some matters of notions with which if you should test God, once the
words leave your mouth your spirit will die before you even finish
speaking. It will be over, and you die without having any idea how you
died. In trivial matters God ignores you, and you say, “Never mind, God
still will take mercy on me, I even had some notions!” Do not worry, if
you come across a crucial point you will be finished. Understand this!
What people does “daily you pray to a vague God”
refer to? Is this now clear? If you pray to a vague God, even if you
pray to him until the time when the great calamity befalls, can you
continue on and enter the kingdom of heaven? You cannot. Then where will
you go? You must die, undoubtedly! If in the very end you have not
known God, but you still pray to a vague God, then if you pray up until
the time when the great calamity comes, you will have your “success”—by
having prayed yourself into hell. It is suitable if you pray to a
practical God, and in your heart you say, “God, the incarnate Almighty
God is Christ of the last days.” It will be proper if you pray in this
way. Do not say, “Almighty God! You are the Spirit, even though you are
God incarnate I still know the Spirit of God comes, and what I pray to
is the Spirit of God!” This sentence is trouble for you, for with it you
deny Christ of the last days and do not know the practical God, and
this sentence will bring your end. Tell me, what consequences may arise
from praying to a vague God, merely praying to the Spirit of God, and
kicking aside God in the flesh. Is this not a person who resists God?
This is a person who resists God, and he will be punished for resisting
God! You always say, “If it were not for the direction of the Spirit of
God, no one would be able to say these words,” and if you say this with
respect to people it is alright, but as for Christ you must say, “Christ
is the true realization of the Spirit of God—God’s Spirit is realized
in Christ—so Christ is able to express the word of God.” It is proper to
speak like this. So Christ is God, and He is not a person enlightened
by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit does not work in Him only
temporarily, but He is the realization of the Holy Spirit, so His words
are the expression of the Holy Spirit. He is the practical God, and He
whom we worship is this practical God. He is Christ incarnate, and is
not a vague God up in heaven. Even more so is He not merely the Spirit
of God, but is the incarnate practical God, the practical God who has
become man.
Can you explain the phrase “How would you explain a situation like this?”
at the end of this passage? Praying every day to a vague God and
differentiating between God’s Spirit and His incarnation, treating Them
in distinction—how do you explain this situation? Is everyone resisting
God who believes this way, separating the Spirit and the word from the
man who is Christ of the last days and who is the practical God, paying
no attention to the man, and only taking notice of the utterance of the
Spirit of God and the word of God? Can this kind of person obtain the
mercy and love of God? Can he obtain the perfection of the work of the
Holy Spirit? He cannot. Because he is a person who resists God, and
because he is a person who does not treat Christ as the practical God,
this kind of person cannot obtain the grace and mercy of God even if he
believes in the name of Almighty God and prays to the name of Almighty
God, and his ending is still destruction.
The example of Peter is
offered in what follows, and what is the most important aspect of the
example of Peter? Peter had knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and in the end
he treated the Lord Jesus as God. He had true love of the Lord Jesus, so
God said Peter was the best in knowledge of God. How can we confirm
that Peter was best in knowledge of God? Through the fact that he knew
Christ, that he had true faith in Christ, that he had true love for
Christ, and that he bore beautiful witness for Christ; we can use this
to confirm that he was best in knowledge of God. God did not make a
person who believed best in Jehovah God of the Age of Law as the one who
was best in knowledge of God, but said that a person who believed in
God incarnate, and believed in Christ, and had knowledge of Christ, and
could truly love Christ, is the person who was best in knowledge of God.
Was there a meaning in God’s speaking this way? It was very full of
meaning. God acted in this way, God praised Peter; this is very real. It
is only in knowing the practical God that somebody can be a person who
has true knowledge of God. These words are the truth, they are real, and
they cause people to believe in both heart and speech. So God will not
acknowledge that those people who research the Bible are people who have
knowledge of God, no matter to what degree they reach in research. Why
will He not acknowledge them? The words in the Bible are too limited and
do not allow any way to reach true knowledge of God. In former times,
God did not appear to people, but merely said those words. They did not
see God’s deeds and know God’s words during the appearance of God, so no
matter what kind of results this kind of person has attained in the
word of God, because he does not have the incarnate God to refer to in
order to achieve practical results, that kind of knowledge is all empty,
and it is not practical. When Christ speaks practically and performs
actions practically, if people truly know it they will understand God’s
intention. The word of God will truly have attained its results upon
man, and this kind of person can finally have true knowledge of God.
125-B-8
You
see Peter’s treatment of Christ as God, how he sought the truth and
sought to know the word of the Lord Jesus; how he completely submitted
to the word of the Lord Jesus, and in the end knew the Lord Jesus was
the real God. Thereby he was able to truly love the Lord Jesus. On the
other hand, how did Peter attend to his parents? He came to see his
parents in truth as the devil Satan, as demons which stood in opposition
to God. He had already seen that they were the real form of the demons,
because they opposed God. Someone may say, “How were Peter’s parents in
opposition to God?” How did they oppose God? Peter’s parents objected
to him following the Lord Jesus, objected to Peter expending himself for
the Lord Jesus, and they hoped Peter would grow into an outstanding man
who would do honor to them, to the devil Satan. Peter saw clearly that
his parents were devils standing against God, so he drew a clear
boundary separating them. If one day the parents of a person like Peter
were destroyed by God, would he complain against God? Of course he would
not. He saw them as devils who opposed God, and saw accurately. When
Job was faced with a trial, his wife said these words to him: “Curse
God, and die!” He said, “You ignorant and stubborn woman!” Perhaps in
his heart he still thought the words, “You devil!” Was she not a devil
revealed? Some people show their true nature to be that of a devil, that
is, Satan. What consequences may arise if one does not recognize these
people? Can one draw a clear boundary line between himself and them? Can
one truly betray these devils? If one cannot overcome these, then it is
very easy for him to be led astray, restrained, and disturbed by
devils, as well as for him to be influenced in his following of God and
in fulfilling his duty and bearing witness.
Here it is mentioned how Peter searched; God’s word says: “He
paid close attention not only to eating and drinking My words, but even
more to grasping My intentions, and was constantly prudent and cautious
in his thoughts, so that he was always keenly astute in his spirit, and
hence was able to please Me in everything he did.” This man
Peter was delicately sensitive in spirit, placed great importance on
eating and drinking the word of God and on grasping God’s intention. The
more a person grasps God’s intention, the more one understands God’s
intention and what God requires from people, and the more one has ways
of practice and knows how to make God content. People who do not place
importance on grasping God’s intention are always confused, muddled,
completely blind, and without any path in their spirits. Can such a
person act in accordance with God’s intention? He cannot act in
accordance with God’s intention, and this is absolutely certain. So, a
person who seeks the truth must meet a minimum of conditions. First, he
must be tender toward the matters of the spirit. Second, he must place
importance on eating and drinking the word of God. Third, he must place
importance on grasping God’s intention. If one has these three things,
he will have a path for seeking the truth, and his search for the truth
will bear fruit and be successful. When his search for the truth is
successful, he will then be able to know much of the word of God, and
after he has finished reading the word of God, this will become a real
knowledge of God. Having a true knowledge of God is a result reached
through knowing much of the word of God. If you truly are a person who
seeks the truth, how should you carry this out? Further, up to now how
much of the word of God do you have real knowledge of, so as to say
“This word is what my life is, and is a life precept for me, and I hold
these words in my heart”? Which words of God are a precept for your
life, having become a tenet you hold close to inspire you and a compass
for your life? Is this matter important or not? If you are a person who
seeks the truth, you must often reflect on yourself and honestly
critique yourself in your mind, saying, “How much of the word of God do I
truly understand? After reading so much of the word of God, I consider
myself truly to know and understand these phrases from the word of God.
In my knowledge of God, I have only these results, and in believing in
God I have these achievements.” If you have truly known many important
phrases from the word of God, truly known many dozens of important
sentences from the word of God, or known many hundreds of the most
important phrases from the word of God, have you not obtained more and
more truth? Does your knowledge of God become more and more abundant? If
your knowledge of God is abundant beyond compare, then does the life
you have gained become richer and richer? The growth of life is such a
process.
If a person knows much of the word of God, is able to
explicate the true experience of bearing witness, can communicate God’s
words in connection with the facts of the material world, with people,
matters, and things, then he has true knowledge of the word of God. Once
you know much of the word of God, then you have understanding of God,
and when you say you are a person who knows God’s work, that is in
keeping with reality and completely consistent. If you do not have true
knowledge of even one word of God, then if you still say you know God’s
work, this is just empty chatter without any basis. What is the main
foundation for knowing the word of God? You must be able to communicate
the truth in order to bear witness, and to gather people, matters, and
things to discuss it. For whatever God’s word indicates, you put forward
two examples, and once you explain the examples clearly and people hear
it, they will say, “Your understanding like this is so pure. Before, I
had not known this. Your understanding like this truly is inspired by
the Holy Spirit and is completely correct. I must also have knowledge
like this!” After receiving benefit, God’s chosen people are completely
convinced! Now, has this kind of person obtained a treasure? He has
obtained life. Those words of God that he knows, have formed part of his
life, have become a compass for his life, and have become a foundation
for his life and existence. Is this or is it not obtaining a treasure?
Having obtained a treasure, you have not believed in vain. If someone
asks you about it, say: “Believing in God, you have obtained such a
treasure. How much suffering have you endured?” “My family has been cast
aside, I am without livelihood, am forsaken and maligned by the people
of the world, and even up to now there are many people insulting me
behind my back!” That person will say, “However much they insult you,
and however much they hate you is worth it, because you have obtained
the truth, and obtained life.” Now we the group of people are forsaken
by the world, and have many relatives, friends, and acquaintances
insulting us behind our backs, slandering us and judging us behind our
backs, even to the point that the government is arresting us and making
plans to seize us. If we truly are able to obtain some truth, or know
some God’s words, then these torments are not suffered in vain. They are
worth it. When you have completely endured all these tribulations—the
world forsakes you, and relatives slander and judge you, and the
government arrests you—if in believing in God you have not sought the
truth and merely done some service without obtaining any truth and life,
have you suffered loss? You have suffered loss! It is out of balance!
Torments have been suffered and you still have not obtained the truth.
How did this happen? Having suffered so many torments, we cannot have
suffered them in vain. We must obtain a bit of truth as a recompense!
Without a husband or a wife, without sons or daughters, if you do not
obtain truth is it worthwhile or not? Are you foolish or not? If you are
able to bear witness, say, “I have no spouse, no sons or daughters, no
family, but I have obtained the truth. It is worth it!” These words are
spoken in an imposing manner, with a courageous spirit, which people
admire! Are you able to do it? Once you speak of this suffering you let
out gleaming tears. Once you speak of obtaining the truth, you hang your
head in despair. Is this a male child, an overcomer? You have suffered
all kinds of torment, just that you have not obtained the truth, so in
the end are you smart or stupid? Some people say, “I also want to obtain
the truth; how is it that I am not able to obtain it?” Does this
question hold water? What kind of talk is this? Can the truth be partial
to anyone? Do you truly want to obtain the truth? What price have you
paid that you say you have not obtained it? This kind of talk makes no
sense! When you talk like this, it would seem that God and the truth are
unfair to people. Why, after all, have you cast aside your family and
given up your livelihood? If it is not for the sake of attaining the
truth, then all that you have abandoned and expended and all the
hardships you have endured are all meaningless. Do you understand this
matter?
Some people say, “I have had faith all my life, but I
still have no real knowledge of God.” How have you believed all your
life? You have not entered the correct path of faith in God, and have
not attended to your duties properly. Why do you not exert yourself in
the way of the truth? Is attaining the truth really so difficult? Is
understanding the truth really so difficult? Tell me, is understanding
the truth difficult or not? The word of God was spoken so plainly and
clearly, and afterward there is the man used by the Holy Spirit to
communicate these practical words; if you have some caliber, then when
you combine the man’s fellowship with God’s words, you should be able to
understand the truth! Further, as to people’s caliber, the caliber of
common people is sufficient, and it is easy for people to understand the
truth. Some people are energetic and have a good caliber and high level
of education, so why do they not use it to do the right things? If you
use it to do the right things, then in searching for the truth for three
years you will have obtained quite a lot, and you can know much of
God’s word—not just one or two sentences, but you will be able to know
dozens of crucial phrases of the word of God and the classic words of
God. You will be able to give examples in explanation and to talk about
real experience. It is not a simple thing to be able to know several
dozen phrases of the word of God, and that is enough to prove you do not
believe in vain, but rather that you have obtained something. Of
course, after we know several dozen phrases in believing in God, we will
certainly have true faith, and this result will have been reached; if
you then come to know the words regarding God’s disposition, and the
words that express God’s disposition, you will have knowledge of God’s
disposition and will be able to produce a heart that reveres God. Once a
person has a heart that reveres God, then this person’s life can be
said to have reached maturity. Once a person has a heart that reveres
God, then the fulfillment of his duty will be able to meet what is
required, and he cannot do evil because he fears making an offense
against God. No matter what befalls him, he is able to ponder it
carefully: “How can I not sin against God? How can I please God?” Once
he has pondered this, then even without knowing it he has departed far
from evil. Who among people with any brains or caliber is not able to
weigh the benefits and shortcomings? They all can completely weigh the
benefits and shortcomings, consider things in their entirety, and find a
choice that is suitable for themselves and a path that is suitable for
their heart’s desires. If a person has really understood some truth, he
also has a heart that reveres God, and it can be said that his faith in
God has achieved success and his faith has met the standard. If one can
become a Christian who fears God and shuns evil, he is surely among the
people of the heavenly kingdom. This is the exemplary standard of what
God said with respect to the faith of Job. Understand this! What exactly
does it mean to say that one is equipped with the faith of Job? It is
having reached what Job accomplished—fearing God and shunning evil. God
calls this kind of person a perfect man, and if you reach this
criterion, you are then of the same ilk as Job. When this is done, you
have been made complete as a person of the heavenly kingdom. Once you
have been made perfect as a person of the heavenly kingdom, because you
are a person who fears God and shuns evil, then think about whether all
the suffering you have endured was worth it. It was worth it! Even a
little more suffering would be worth it, because you have gained life.
Any suffering you endure is worth it! The suffering you have endured
before is worth it, and the suffering you will endure later is also
worth it. Even if you die, it is worth it; your soul will be raised up
to the heavenly kingdom, this is for certain!
from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life
Recommendation：
If Eastern Lightning is the true way, then what is the basis of your confirmation? We believe in the Lord Jesus because He redeemed us, but what do you use to verify that Eastern Lightning is the true way?
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