Amongst the many Christian denominations, each has their own teachings and understanding, what their believers practice and observe are different, and they each stick to their own views and refuse to give in to each other. However, they happen to hold the same view and speak with one voice on how to treat the second incarnate Christ and God’s work of the last days. They need only hear things like “The Lord Jesus has returned to flesh,” “God has done new work,” or the phrase “the Eastern Lightning” and they will deny, condemn and renounce it without hesitation, calling God’s work of the last days heresy. They frantically oppose and obstruct God’s work, and do their utmost to seal off the churches. Particularly, they do everything possible to make things difficult for, drive away, insult and verbally abuse the brothers and sisters who preach the gospel of the last days, and even beat them up and send them to the hands of those in power. These circumstances are just like how the Pharisees opposed the Lord Jesus, even worse than then.
Why do people who so anxiously long for the return of the Lord Jesus frenziedly oppose and reject His return? Why are people who have enjoyed measureless grace and love of Jesus Christ able to hate His return so much? Why do people have to drive Christ from among man? Why will people not rest until they have put God incarnate to His death? What is the reason for this? What problem does this illustrate? I would like to address my simple personal understanding of this issue from the following aspects:
I That Christianity can frenziedly oppose Christ indicates that people believe in God yet do not know God at all, nor do they know the essence of Christ.
Almighty God says: “Man’s resistance to and disobedience of God come from the fact that the substance of the incarnate God submits to the will of God, as well as from the normal humanity of Christ; herein lies the source of man’s resistance to and disobedience of God. If Christ had neither the guise of His humanity nor sought the will of God the Father from the perspective of a created being, but was instead possessed of a super humanity, then there likely would be no disobedience in any man. The reason man is always willing to believe in an invisible God in heaven is because God in heaven has no humanity and He does not have a single quality of a created being. So man always regards Him with the greatest esteem, but holds an attitude of contempt toward Christ” (“The Substance of Christ Is Obedience to the Will of the Heavenly Father” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “If people do not know the essence of Christ, and do not understand the disposition of God, they are even less able to truly worship God. If people see only the ordinary and normal outward appearance of Christ and do not know His essence, it is easy for people to treat Christ as an ordinary man. They can adopt a disrespectful attitude toward Him, can cheat Him, resist Him, disobey Him, cast judgment on Him, and be opinionated. They can take His word as insignificant, can treat His flesh as they please, can harbor conceptions, and can blaspheme” (“Knowledge of the Incarnation” in Records of Christ’s Talks). “Those who did not know the Messiah were all capable of opposing Jesus, of rejecting Jesus, of slandering Him. People who do not understand Jesus are all capable of denying Him, and reviling Him. Moreover, they are capable of seeing the return of Jesus as the deceit of Satan, and more people shall condemn Jesus returned to flesh. Does not all of this make you afraid?” (“When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s words we understand that the core reason why people believe in God yet resist God is because they do not know God and they do not know the essence of Christ. God was incarnated as an ordinary person and that is why people have become the implacable enemies of God. From Jesus’ incarnation, we know that although God was incarnated as an ordinary person, He was the flesh worn by God’s Spirit and His essence was divine and He was God Himself. This can never be changed. From outside, it seems that there is no difference between Christ and people, but their essences are entirely different. People are just created beings, but Christ is the Lord of creation, the authoritative and mighty God Himself. Regardless of how practical His speech and work is and regardless of how normal His humanity is, it cannot change His divine essence and divine being. He is completely and entirely God Himself. He is the Creator and Master of all things in the universe. People are created beings and do not have the faculty to know God, nor can they directly penetrate the spiritual realm. Plus the people of today have been corrupted by Satan for thousands of years, and they cannot tell right from wrong and are blind, ignorant, insensitive and stupid. They view people and things and judge right and wrong based on what they see with their own eyes and are totally unable to perceive their essence. Therefore people treat God incarnate in the same way. They just see the normal humanity of Christ but do not know Christ’s divine essence. This leads to people being unable to obey and worship Christ and viewing Christ as an ordinary man who has no ability or authority. So people dare to treat the incarnate Christ arbitrarily and dare to despise, slander, condemn, resist and persecute Christ as they wish and even stand as sworn enemies to Christ. Just as in the Age of Grace when God was incarnated the first time, those Jewish Pharisees condemned and cast Jesus aside. Was this not because they just saw Jesus’ normal humanity on the outside, but did not know Jesus’ divine essence? When Jesus came to Nazareth and preached and taught people in the synagogue, they all viewed Jesus as the son of a carpenter (See Mat 13:54-55). When Jesus preached elsewhere, they viewed Him as a Samaritan or a Nazarene. Thus they dared to frenziedly slander and blaspheme all the truths that Jesus uttered which did not match their notions and said that Jesus was possessed by demons and took up stones to cast at Him (See Jhn 8:48-59). When they saw that Jesus ate and drank, they judged and condemned Him as a gluttonous man, a drunkard and a friend of tax collectors and sinners (See Mat 11:19). When Jesus healed people and cast out demons, they dared to boldly blaspheme that Jesus was relying on Beelzebub, the prince of demons, to cast out the demons (See Mat 12:22-24). When Jesus did good works on the Sabbath, the Pharisees condemned Jesus for disobeying the laws of the Old Testament, schemed to destroy Jesus (See Mat 12:12-14) and eventually crucified the innocent Lord Jesus on the cross. Likewise, today every denomination keeps on proclaiming that they believe in Jesus Christ and they have the second coming of the Lord Jesus in their thoughts day and night, but when the Lord Jesus really arrives, they frenziedly oppose Him. They try by every means to deny and condemn Christ when He finally comes. Is this not also a result of not knowing Christ’s essence and just looking at Christ’s appearance? If people can really know God from His essence, and do not judge Christ based on His appearance, then they will be able to know Christ from His words and work and recognize that this Son of man who appears to be ordinary and normal is the Lord of creation who created all things in the universe and who is in charge of the universe. When people know that Christ’s essence is God Himself, they will not dare speak so boldly and arbitrarily and will not dare to oppose and condemn Christ so frenziedly. Therefore, if people have knowledge of the essence of Christ, they will know that Christ is venerable and formidable, as John the Baptist preached in the wilderness: “but he that comes after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear” (See Mat 3:11). We can see that he held Christ in awe and veneration and it proves that at that time he had a little knowledge of God and knew that Christ is the great, honorable, glorious God Himself; otherwise he would not say such words. If people have knowledge of God’s essence, they will treat God as God and they will be able to respect God as great in their hearts. When they encounter something, they will be able to seek the will of God and seek how to act to please God. If people have knowledge of God’s essence, they will know God’s supremacy and honorableness and will know their own lowliness and insignificance, and in the presence of God they will have a heart that trembles with fear and will not dare to be arbitrarily riotous and commit wild acts and will be able to truly worship God, obey God and love God. People who do not know Christ can only use their own notions to judge the essence of Christ, and condemn Christ’s speech and work based on Christ’s appearance. They can make the mistakes that were made by the Pharisees, take the Pharisees’ path of opposing God and become enemies of Christ, and finally will be eliminated by God and receive God’s punishment.
II That Christianity can frenziedly oppose Christ indicates that people’s nature is already extremely corrupt and utterly venomous.
Think about the time when the Lord Jesus did work amongst Jews two thousand years ago. The reason why religious circles opposed and condemned the Lord Jesus was because He did not possess the image of God that they had imagined. Since Jesus’ work did not accord with their notions, they went bent on putting Jesus to death. In order to achieve this goal, they tried to find a handle against Jesus in every aspect and looked for all kinds of excuses to slander and frame Him and eventually forcibly crucified Him in the absence of any substantiated charge. Especially on the eve of the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus, they cruelly tortured Him with all kinds of torments and did everything possible to dishonor and ill-treat Him as they pleased. They platted a crown of thorns and put it on His head, spat on His face, struck Him with the fists and palms of their hands and scourged Him until He was lacerated and bruised all over. Not only that, but they also mercilessly crucified the Lord Jesus on the cross. Today, when the Lord Jesus has returned to flesh to carry out His work in Mainland China, this historical tragedy has reappeared in Christianity. The majority of priests and elders in the religious community have played the role of the Pharisees. They are so hateful toward Christ of the last days that they do all they can to oppose and reject Christ who has come to earth, using even more evil language and even crueler methods than those used by the Pharisees. They do everything possible to attack and oppose Christ, fabricating all kinds of rumors to frame and slander Christ, saying things like “The message that God has returned to flesh is fake and is to deceive people,” “If the believers of the Eastern Lightning spread the gospel to you and you do not accept, they will dig out your eyes and cut off your ears,” etc. They use these groundless and wild rumors to frighten people and hinder them from accepting the true way. They view the words of Christ as a pest and a thorn in the flesh. Once they get the book of God’s words, it is like they have caught a sworn enemy, and they condemn and blaspheme it, and then tear, burn or throw it into the latrines. They treat the brothers and sisters who spread the gospel of the last days even more mercilessly. They use all kinds of foul language to laugh at and humiliate them, hit them with sticks, scald them with boiling water, throw cold water and excrement over them, set their dogs on them, and report them to the police. In addition, some brothers and sisters have even been buried alive. Their hatred toward Christ of the last days is not second to that of the Jewish Pharisees toward the Lord Jesus. They stop at nothing to persecute the brothers and sisters who spread the gospel of the last days, even more than the Jews of those days who persecuted Jesus’ disciples. It is as if they were long ago sworn enemies of Christ. They, burning with a frenzy of rage, are determined to oppose Christ to the end; their hatred cannot be quelled unless Christ is crucified again. This has to be puzzling for people: The Jewish people of those days had believed in God for many generations and had listened to many of the teachings of Jesus and had seen many signs and wonders that Jesus had performed, but how could they still treat the Lord Jesus so cruelly and venomously? Why was the Lord Jesus looked upon by them as more sinful than a murderer (They chose to release the murderer Barabbas instead of Jesus)? Today, the priests and elders of the religious community have enjoyed so much of the Lord Jesus’ grace and blessings and moreover, they have known the failure of the Jewish people. Why would they still requite the kindness of Christ who has come in the last days with enmity? Why would they antagonize Christ even more frenziedly?
Let us look at what Almighty God says: “The source of man’s opposition and rebelliousness against God is his corruption by Satan. Because he has been corrupted by Satan, man’s conscience has grown numb, he is immoral, his thoughts are degenerate, and he has a backward mental outlook. Before he was corrupted by Satan, man naturally followed God and obeyed His words. He was naturally of sound sense and conscience, and of normal humanity. After being corrupted by Satan, his original sense, conscience, and humanity grew dull and were impaired by Satan. Thus, he has lost his obedience and love toward God. Man’s sense has become aberrant, his disposition has become the same as that of an animal, and his rebelliousness toward God is ever more frequent and grievous. Yet man still neither knows nor recognizes this, and merely blindly opposes and rebels. The revelation of man’s disposition is the expression of his sense, insight and conscience, and because his sense and insight are unsound, and his conscience has grown supremely dull, thus his disposition is rebellious against God. …
The source of the revelation of man’s corrupt disposition is nothing more than his dulled conscience, his malicious nature and his unsound sense; if man’s conscience and sense are able to return to normal, then he will become fit for use before God. It is simply because man’s conscience has always been numb, man’s sense has never been sound, and is increasingly dull that man is increasingly rebellious toward God, such that he even nailed Jesus to the cross and has refused God incarnate of the last days entry into his home, and condemns God’s flesh, and sees God’s flesh as vile and lowly. If man had but a little humanity, he would not be so cruel in his treatment of God’s incarnate flesh; if he had but a little sense, he would not be so vicious in his treatment of the flesh of God incarnate; if he had but a little conscience, he would not be so ‘grateful’ to God incarnate in this way. Man lives in the era of God become flesh, yet he is incapable of thanking God for giving him such a good opportunity, and instead curses the coming of God, or completely ignores the fact of God’s incarnation, and is seemingly against it and weary of it. … Man’s disposition has become supremely vicious, his sense has grown supremely dull, and his conscience has been completely trampled by the evil one and long ago ceased to be the original conscience of man” (“To Have an Unchanged Disposition Is to Be in Enmity to God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s words, we can clearly see that no matter whether it be the Pharisees of those days who opposed Jesus Christ, or the modern-day priests and elders of the religious community who oppose the second incarnate Christ, they both are governed and driven by their malevolent nature. This fully shows that people have already been corrupted by Satan so much so that they have completely lost their humanity and have lost the conscience and reason that normal people should possess. Like Satan, their hearts are full of arrogance, conceit, reactionariness, evil, insidiousness, despicableness and maliciousness. It can be said that people have long become the embodiment of Satan after being corrupted by it for thousands of years, that their nature has become Satan’s nature, a God-opposing and God-betraying nature. However Satan attacks God, people too attack God, and however venomous Satan is, people are just as venomous. This is completely true. As it says in The Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life: “Mankind’s true face is completely the same as Satan’s. Satan wants to rise to the highest place and control everything. Mankind also wants to rise to the third heaven and wield power together with God. Satan wants to break free from God’s control so that it could do as it pleases. Man also wants to put God to one side so that he can be in complete control of himself. Satan wants to create its own world and man wants to create his own paradise. Satan hates God and it has been itching to topple God. Mankind also particularly hates God and nails God’s incarnate flesh to the cross two times. Satan’s ambition is great but man’s is even greater. How is man unlike Satan? He is even worse than Satan. Man is too cruel! Man would simply execute God, and he would not give God an escape route.” This passage of fellowship tells of the nature and the true face of man. Today who would believe that the horrifying and infuriating sinful acts of opposing Christ are actually done by these people who believe in the Lord, if it were not seen with our own eyes or personally experienced by us? All of these deeds and methods of opposing and hating Christ and taking Christ as their enemy are enough to prove that their nature has already been venomous to the extreme and that they have completely become the enemies of God and the embodiment of Satan. This is completely true!
III That Christianity can frenziedly oppose Christ also shows that people’s nature is wildly arrogant, and that they just blindly hold on to old things and their own notions and imaginations, but yet do not know the direction of the Holy Spirit’s work.
Almighty God says: “The reason that man opposes God stems, on the one hand, from the corrupt disposition of man, and on the other hand, from ignorance of God and lack of understanding of the principles of God’s work and His will toward man. These two aspects merge into a history of man’s resistance to God” (“All Who Do Not Know God Are Those Who Oppose God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “Man is only able to accept one kind of work, or one way of practice. It is difficult for man to accept work, or ways of practice, that are at odds with them, or higher than them—but the Holy Spirit is always doing new work, and so there appear group after group of religious experts that oppose the new work of God. These people have become experts precisely because man has no knowledge of how God is always new and never old, and has no knowledge of the principles of God’s work, and, what’s more, has no knowledge of the many ways in which God saves man. As such, man is utterly unable to tell if it is work that comes from the Holy Spirit, and if it is the work of God Himself. Many people cling to an attitude in which, if it corresponds with the words that came before, then they accept it, and if there are differences with the work of before, then they oppose and reject it. Today, do you all not abide by such principles?” (“Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From God’s words we can see that people oppose God and obstruct the work of the Holy Spirit not because God’s work is wrong, but because of their notions and their inherent arrogance and because their nature is too disobedient. Another reason is that people do not know the principles of God’s work and do not know the direction of the work of the Holy Spirit. God is a God who is always new and never old, and His work is elevated step by step. His work is always moving forward and never stops at a particular point. However, people are particularly conservative as well as arrogant and conceited, and they adhere to old ways and are unwilling to let them go. They always judge God’s new work based on the work He did previously and delimit God’s work within their own notions, thinking that God’s work is unchanging and that God will not do new work. Some people understand some simple words and doctrines from God’s previous work and think that they can fathom God’s work. They use some trivial things that God has given before and turn them around to attack and blaspheme God. It is precisely for this reason that many “experts” who oppose God’s new work have appeared. Thinking back to the Age of Grace, when the Lord Jesus was incarnated the first time, He did new work—He ended the Age of Law, initiated the Age of Grace, and brought people a new path for practice. However, the Pharisees of that time thought they had learned the laws of the Old Testament by heart, and it meant that they knew God best, so they delimited God’s work within their notions and within the Age of Law. These Pharisees were arrogant and conceited and stubbornly upheld themselves, and they held on to the letters of the prophecies about the Lord’s coming in the Old Testament, thinking that when God comes He should be called the Messiah, should go to the temple to preach, and should keep the Sabbath…. As a result, they totally ignored the new work that the Lord Jesus did and didn’t seek to examine it and treat it carefully, but instead used the laws and rules of the Old Testament to measure the new work that Jesus did. When they thought they did not tally with each other, they ran their mouths off, making arbitrary evaluations and judgments about, abusing, condemning and blaspheming God’s new work, saying that Jesus not entering the temple and not keeping the Sabbath violated the laws of Moses and that Jesus relied on Beelzebub, the prince of the devils, to cast out demons…. Are today’s Christians who frenziedly oppose the second coming of the Lord Jesus not committing the same mistake as the Pharisees of that time? Are they not ones who, based on some words of the prophecies regarding Jesus’ second coming in the Bible, think that God will work according to what they have thought, thereby delimiting Christ of the last days and His work within their imaginations? Facing Christ’s coming, they neither seek nor accept. They think: If God comes, He should descend upon white clouds and not come in the flesh. If God has been incarnated, He should let priests and elders know it first. If God has become flesh, He should make it known to all and let everyone see. If it really is the incarnate God, He should be called Jesus, not Almighty God. If it is God incarnate, He should continue to give people abundant grace, heal people and cast out the demons, and perform signs and wonders. If it is God’s incarnate flesh, He should say words of blessing, comfort and counsel, not words that severely chastise and judge people. If it is God doing judgment work, then it should be the judgment before the great white throne in the air, not His judgment of people through coming to earth in the flesh and uttering words…. In the end they have come to this conclusion: God cannot be incarnated a second time to do work. If anyone says “God has done new work,” it is heresy. Is their repetition of the mistake that the Pharisees made not because they hold onto their own notions and imaginations too much? Is it not because they do not know the direction of the work of the Holy Spirit? Is it not because they are too arrogant and too disobedient by nature? As it says in the word of God: “They were full of fantasies about the Messiah. What’s more, they believed only that the Messiah would come, yet did not seek the truth of life. And so, even today they still await the Messiah, for they have no knowledge of the way of life, and do not know what the way of truth is. How, say you, could such foolish, stubborn and ignorant people gain God’s blessing? How could they behold the Messiah? They opposed Jesus because they did not know the direction of the Holy Spirit’s work, because they did not know the way of truth spoken by Jesus, and, furthermore, because they did not understand the Messiah. And since they had never seen the Messiah, and had never been in the company of the Messiah, they made the mistake of paying empty tribute to the name of the Messiah while opposing the substance of the Messiah by any means. These Pharisees in substance were stubborn, arrogant, and did not obey the truth. The principle of their belief in God is: No matter how profound Your preaching, no matter how high Your authority, You are not Christ unless You are called the Messiah. Are these views not preposterous and ridiculous? I ask you again: Is it not extremely easy for you to commit the mistakes of the earliest Pharisees, given that you have not the slightest understanding of Jesus? Are you able to discern the way of truth? Can you truly guarantee that you will not oppose Christ? Are you able to follow the work of the Holy Spirit? If you do not know whether you will oppose Christ, then I say that you are already living on the brink of death. Those who did not know the Messiah were all capable of opposing Jesus, of rejecting Jesus, of slandering Him. People who do not understand Jesus are all capable of denying Him, and reviling Him. Moreover, they are capable of seeing the return of Jesus as the deceit of Satan, and more people shall condemn Jesus returned to flesh. Does not all of this make you afraid? What you face shall be blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, the ruination of the words of the Holy Spirit to the churches, and the spurning of all that is expressed by Jesus. What can you gain from Jesus if you are so befuddled? How can you understand the work of Jesus when He returns to flesh on a white cloud, if you obstinately refuse to realize your errors? I tell you this: People who do not accept the truth, yet blindly await the arrival of Jesus upon white clouds, will surely blaspheme against the Holy Spirit, and they are the race that shall be destroyed. You merely wish for the grace of Jesus, and merely want to enjoy the blissful realm of heaven, yet you have never obeyed the words spoken by Jesus, and have never received the truth expressed by Jesus when He returns to flesh. What will you hold up in exchange for the fact of Jesus’ return upon a white cloud? Is it the sincerity in which you repeatedly commit sins, and then confess them, over and over? What will you offer in sacrifice to Jesus who returns upon a white cloud? Is it the years of work with which you exalt yourselves? What will you hold up to make the returned Jesus trust you? Is it that arrogant nature of yours, which does not obey any truth?” (“When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Every one of us who believes in God acknowledges that we have been corrupted by Satan, but we do not understand to what degree we have been corrupted and always think that we are most obedient to God and most compatible with God. In fact, after people have been corrupted by Satan, their nature becomes ever worse through Satan’s processing. People are all stubborn, arrogant and do not obey the truth; they cling to their own fallacies and notions and imaginations, cannot distinguish right from wrong and do not accept the truth. The Pharisees are such an example. At that time, Jesus was an eyesore to them, and they continuously opposed and condemned Christ and eventually crucified God on the cross. This really is mankind’s sorrow! Is the reason for this not because people are too stubborn and do not accept the truth?
So how should we treat God’s new work in a way that accords with God’s will? Almighty God says: “The former age has passed; this is a new age. And in a new age, new work must be done. Particularly in the final age in which man will be perfected, God will perform new work ever more quickly. Therefore, without obedience in his heart, man will find it difficult to follow the footsteps of God. … All those of a disobedient nature who willfully oppose shall be left behind by this stage of God’s swift and furiously advancing work; only those who willingly obey and who gladly humble themselves can progress to the end of the road. In this kind of work, all of you should learn how to submit and how to put aside your notions. You should be cautious in every step you take. If you are careless, you will surely become one who is spurned by the Holy Spirit, one who disrupts God in His work.” (“Those Who Obey God With a True Heart Shall Surely Be Gained by God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). “The return of Jesus is a great salvation for those who are capable of accepting the truth, but for those who are unable to accept the truth it is a sign of condemnation. You should choose your own path, and should not blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and reject the truth. You should not be an ignorant and arrogant person, but someone who obeys the guidance of the Holy Spirit and longs for and seeks the truth; only in this way will you benefit. I advise you to tread the path of belief in God with care. Do not jump to conclusions; what’s more, do not be casual and carefree in your belief in God. You should know that, at the very least, those who believe in God should be humble and reverential. Those who have heard the truth and yet turn their nose up at it are foolish and ignorant. Those who have heard the truth and yet carelessly jump to conclusions or condemn it are beset by arrogance. No one who believes in Jesus is qualified to curse or condemn others. You should all be someone who is rational and accepts the truth. Perhaps, having heard the way of truth and read the word of life, you believe that only one in 10,000 of these words are in line with your convictions and the Bible, and then you should continue to seek in that 10,000th of these words. I still advise you to be humble, to not be over-confident, and to not exalt yourself too highly. With your heart holding such meager reverence for God, you will gain greater light. If you carefully examine and repeatedly contemplate these words, you shall understand whether or not they are the truth, and whether or not they are life. Perhaps, having only read a few sentences, some people will blindly condemn these words, saying, ‘This is nothing more than some enlightenment of the Holy Spirit,’ or, ‘This is a false Christ come to deceive people.’ Those who say such things are blinded by ignorance! You understand too little of the work and wisdom of God, and I advise you to start again from scratch! You must not blindly condemn the words expressed by God because of the appearance of false Christs during the last days, and must not be someone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit because you fear deception. Would that not be a great pity? If, after much examination, you still believe that these words are not the truth, are not the way, and are not the expression of God, then you shall ultimately be punished, and be without blessings. If you cannot accept such truth spoken so plainly and so clearly, then are you not unfit for God’s salvation? Are you not someone who is not fortunate enough to return before the throne of God? Think about it! Do not be rash and impetuous, and do not treat belief in God as a game. Think for the sake of your destination, for the sake of your prospects, for the sake of your life, and do not play around with yourself. Can you accept these words?” (“When You Behold the Spiritual Body of Jesus Will Be When God Has Made Anew Heaven and Earth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Also, it is written in the Bible: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, said Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa 55:8-9). “These are they which follow the Lamb wherever he goes” (Rev 14:4). We can see from this that, as created beings, what we should do is to seek, obey, follow and accept God’s new work. This is what our duty is. It is the least a believer should do.
Brothers and sisters of every denomination, today the most high God has come to earth in the image of an ordinary person and uttered tens of thousands of words of the truth, with the objective of saving this most deeply afflicted mankind. God has been incarnated on earth to express truths and work to save us. He has suffered so much for us and has already paid such a painstaking price. How can we still harbor any opinions or notions when such vast salvation befalls us? As God’s words say: “Many are the sleepless nights that God has endured for the sake of the work of mankind. From up high to the lowest depths, He has descended to the living hell in which man lives to pass His days with man, has never complained of the shabbiness among man, has never reproached man for his disobedience, but endures the greatest humiliation as He personally carries out His work. How could God belong to hell? How could He spend His life in hell? But for the sake of all mankind, so that the whole of mankind can find rest sooner, He has endured humiliation and suffered injustice to come to earth, and personally entered into ‘hell’ and ‘Hades,’ into the tiger’s den, to save man. How is man qualified to oppose God? What reason does he have to once more complain about God? How can he have the gall to look upon God again? God of heaven has come to this most filthy land of vice, and has never vented His grievances, or complained about man, but instead quietly accepts the ravages[1] and oppression of man. Never has He hit back at the unreasonable demands of man, never has He made excessive demands of man, and never has He made unreasonable demands of man; He merely does all the work required by man without complaint: teaching, enlightening, reproaching, the refinement of words, reminding, exhorting, consoling, judging, and revealing.” “In coming among the family of a normal man, Jesus has suffered the greatest injustice. Even more humiliating is that He has come to this dusty world and humbled Himself to the very lowest depths, and has assumed a flesh of supreme ordinariness. In becoming a meager human being, does God Most High not suffer hardship? And is this not all for mankind? Have there been any times when He was thinking for Himself? After He was rejected and put to death by the Jews, and derided and mocked by the people, He never complained to Heaven or protested to earth. Today, this millennia-old tragedy has reappeared among this Jew-like people. Do they not commit the same sins? What makes man qualified to receive God’s promises? Does he not oppose God and then accept His blessings?” (“Work and Entry (9)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). In the face of God’s heartfelt words and God’s motherly love, do we still remain unmoved? Now is the period when God carries out His work of saving people, and it is the golden opportunity for us to pursue the truth and salvation. As long as we have the desire to seek God, He will certainly work upon us and make us understand His words and His will and gradually break away from corruption, so that we will enter our long-yearned-for “heaven”—the kingdom of God and enjoy the true human life. If we miss this good opportunity, when God’s salvation work is completely finished, we will regret it too late and feel remorse for a lifetime. At that time, even if we sorely regret, it will be to no avail and we will only fall into the darkness and await God’s righteous retribution and punishment. At the same time, we will realize this fact: God has really been incarnated in China and done work of saving people; whom we oppose and reject is indeed the returned Lord Jesus and what we wantonly condemn and blaspheme is exactly God’s appearance and work. But it will be too late if we do not become aware of that until then, because God’s six-thousand-year management plan has come to an end and all those who truly believe in God and have been saved have already entered the beautiful destination that God has prepared for them. The outcome is settled and can be changed by no one. As Almighty God says: “You believe in God, and so you must accept His words and obey His way. You must not just think of gaining blessings without receiving the truth, or accepting the provision of life. Christ comes during the last days so that all those who truly believe in Him may be provided with life. His work is for the sake of concluding the old age and entering the new one, and is the path that must be taken by all those who would enter the new age. If you are incapable of acknowledging Him, and instead condemn, blaspheme or even persecute Him, then you are bound to burn for eternity, and shall never enter the kingdom of God. For this Christ is Himself the expression of the Holy Spirit, the expression of God, the One whom God has entrusted to do His work on earth. And so I say that if you cannot accept all that is done by Christ of the last days, then you blaspheme the Holy Spirit. The retribution that should be suffered by those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit is self-evident to all. I also tell you that if you oppose Christ of the last days, and deny Him, then there is no one who can bear the consequences on your behalf. Furthermore, from this day onward you will not have another chance to gain the approval of God; even if you try to redeem yourself, you will never again behold the face of God. For what you oppose is not a man, what you deny is not some puny being, but Christ. Are you aware of this consequence? You have not made a small mistake, but committed a heinous crime. And so I advise everyone not to bare your fangs before the truth, or make careless criticisms, for only the truth can bring you life, and nothing except the truth can allow you to be reborn and behold the face of God” (“Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).
Kemu, Xingtai City, Hebei Province
Footnotes:
1. “Ravages” is used to expose the disobedience of mankind.
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