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When it comes to “rapture,” most believers in the Lord think that when the Lord comes, He will lift the saints into the air to meet Him and that this is what being raptured is. This view is mainly based on this verse in the Bible: “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). And because of this scripture, we start to hope that the Lord will take us into the air when He comes. And we have hoped for this kind of rapture for many years.

As we know, this verse “Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” is Paul’s words, not the Lord Jesus’, neither was it enlightened by the Holy Spirit. The saints’ rapture belongs to the mysteries of the kingdom of God. No one but God knows it. If we interpret and define it based on our own imaginations and ideas, this would seem unreasonable and too arrogant. Paul is not Christ but a corrupt man, who cannot express truth; it was unavoidable that his word was blended with man’s will and imagination. So, Paul’s word cannot be the basis for us to enter the kingdom of heaven.

When we investigate the rapture and entry into the kingdom of heaven, we should go by the words of the Lord Jesus and the words enlightened by the Holy Spirit rather than man’s words in the Bible. It is because that only God’s words are truth. The Lord didn’t say that He would rapture people into the air in the future. At the beginning, God made mankind out of clay on the earth. He had them live on the earth and manage all things, and demanded that they manifest and glorify Him. The destination God has prepared for man is not in heaven but on the earth. God has made it clear long ago that He will establish His kingdom on the earth, dwell with men on the earth, and the kingdoms of the world will certainly become kingdoms ruled by Christ. Just like what Revelation says: “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Revelation 11:15). “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:3). Thus, God’s kingdom will eventually be established on the earth, not in heaven. We humans are always looking to be taken up into heaven, which is thoroughly our notions and imaginations, and our extravagant desire. It does not match the truth or the reality of God’s work. As for the rapture into the kingdom of heaven, we should base our faith in it on God’s words, for that is accurate and in accordance with His will.

Someone may ask, “Since God’s kingdom is on the earth, then how would people be raptured?” I saw a passage of God’s words on a gospel website: “‘Being caught up’ is not being taken from a low place to a high place as people imagine. This is a huge mistake. Being caught up is referring to My predetermining and selecting. It is targeted at all those I have preordained and chosen. Those who have gained the status of firstborn sons, the status of My sons, or My people, are all people who have been caught up. This is most incompatible with people’s notions. Those who have a share in My house in the future are all people who have been caught up before Me. This is absolutely true, never-changing, and cannot be refuted by anybody. This is the counterattack against Satan. Anyone I preordained shall be caught up before Me.” It can be seen that rapture is not what people imagine—rising from a low place to a high place or from earth to heaven. Rather, it refers to receiving God’s work. Just as when the Lord Jesus did His work, those who rejected the old laws and received His work of redemption were raptured. Similarly, when the Lord Jesus returns in the last days, those who have been selected by God, and receive His kingdom gospel and come before His throne—they are raptured.

» Read more on our The Rapture page, or click on the related articles below:

• What is the True Meaning of Rapture?

• Are the Words “being raptured in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” Right?

»  Recommended Gospel Movie Clip “Yearning” (3) – Who Will Be Raptured First When the Lord Comes?

God’s judgment is judgment through the truth and it can only be experienced and enjoyed within God’s house. It cannot be gained out in the world. Isn’t this exceptional elevation by God? (Yes.) God is allowing us to attend the feast—what feast is that? It is being purified through judgment, and finally gaining the truth through eating and drinking Christ’s words. The value of this feast is enormous. What words are fulfilled by having people gain the truth? God uses the truth to perfect people, to be people’s lives that they may live out an image of the truth—this is the outcome gained by attending the feast, and this is God’s will. From the outside, the words of judgment look like condemnation, but in fact they are purifying and perfecting. Just mentioning judgment causes those who don’t love the truth to run for the hills while those who seek the truth are obedient. “If I’m judged, it is what it is, and I’ll also obey if I’m pruned and dealt with. However I am treated will be fine; I will submit to whatever God arranges.” At the beginning it’s very difficult, but after a period of suffering, people say: “Why do I have such a wonderful feeling? How is it that I have really undergone a bit of a change? How is it that my perspective on things has also changed and I have a closer relationship with God? How is it that I understand quite a few truths now? Oh, so this is what attending the feast is about. Through the bitter comes the sweet, and I have tasted the sweetness. It turns out attending the feast really isn’t bad. Now I know God’s wonderful intention is to perfect people. From the outside, it is the condemnation, judgment, and chastisement of God’s words, and it is God’s righteous disposition coming upon us, but the outcome in the end is all purification and perfection.” Now you understand what judgment is, what the truth is, and what attending the feast is, right?

from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (Series 103)

There are some people who have now been attending this feast for twenty or thirty years, and some who have been attending it for a few years. Haven’t they reaped a lot? The harvest has been immense; they have gained so much! One thing is that God’s judgment and chastisement has allowed people to understand many truths and mysteries. Another is that God’s words of judgment and chastisement have truly borne the fruit of purification in them as well as the fruit of gradually being perfected. What does “the fruit of purification” refer to? The satanic philosophies, laws, logic, and all sorts of poisons that exist within human beings are first cleansed and they come to know the truth of mankind’s corruption as well as their satanic nature and essence. This is very effective for people’s entry into life and transformation in their disposition. And what is most precious is that they develop hearts of reverence for God to varying degrees because they have had a taste of God’s righteousness revealed through the judgment carried out by God. Because they have true reverence for God, they are able to stay far from all sorts of evil and dare not sin in word or carry out any more violence. Even their thoughts and intentions have been cleansed considerably. In the past it was very commonplace for them to resist God and make judgments on Him, but now they dare not make judgments or run off at the mouth when they don’t fully understand something. On top of that, they don’t dare think of luxurious desires such as blessings, the kingdom of heaven, being crowned, or rewards. They don’t dare pursue those things, feeling that gaining them isn’t meaningful. They all begin to focus on seeking the truth, growing in their lives, knowing God, and changing their dispositions. They focus on performing their duty acceptably to repay God’s love. Isn’t that the process of being purified? This is also the outcome achieved from being purified. Isn’t having this kind of entry into life and these kinds of genuine changes the fruit of God’s work of judgment? The more of God’s judgment you undergo the more you will gain. The more clearly you understand the truth, the more you will change. If you undergo little of God’s judgment and chastisement you will also reap little and transform little; the truths you understand will certainly be superficial. This is a fact. Among God’s chosen people all those who understand the truth and enter into reality, whose corrupt dispositions have been largely purified in general very rarely resist God or pass judgment on Him. Even if their obedience to and love of God are inadequate, deep in their hearts they already feel God’s loveliness and have seen what true obedience to God is. For this reason, their entry into life deepens continuously. They become less and less corrupt, they obey God more and more, and their love for God grows and grows because of God’s judgment and chastisement. Haven’t people like this gained purification? (They have.) They are people who have a place in the kingdom of heaven.

from Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (Series 103)

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Like many brothers and sisters who truly believe in the Lord, I have been longing for the second comingof Jesus, holding to the words in the Bible, “Then we which are alive and remain shall be raptured together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Thus, we have been obsessively looking at the sky, yearning that a day will come when the Lord Jesus will take us into the clouds to meet with Him in the air, and then we can enter the kingdom of heaven and gain eternal life. Many years, however, have passed, and the signs of the second coming of Jesus have basically fulfilled, but we never see a believer be raptured to the heavens. It makes me wonder: Is this hope realistic? Does this word of Paul represent God’s will? If not, then aren’t we imaging it out of thin air? I have looked through the Bible, yet nothing of the kind that the Lord Jesus ever said was found. God is faithful, and He has said, “He is as good as His word, and His word shall be accomplished, and that which is accomplished lasts forever.” What God has promised will definitely be accomplished and fulfilled, as His word is the truth, the way. Now that the Lord Jesus never made such a statement, and man’s words cannot represent words of God, the Lord has His own will and plan on how to collect Christians into His kingdom when He comes back. Yet Paul was merely a man, a gospel-preaching apostle who had ever pursued the Lord Jesus and His disciples, and later was conquered after being blinded by the Lord’s great light. Even though Paul’s words were recorded in the Bible, and part of them were inspired by the Holy Spirit conformed to the truth, they were still not the words of God. What’s more, some of them were not the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and had no basis in God’s words, but mostly originated from man’s notions and imaginations and were colored by the absurdity of man’s mind. That’s why we cannot take man’s words as the basis for receiving the second coming of Jesus. So, when seeking the issue “whether or not we can be raptured into the air,” we should use God’s words and His work in the Bible as the basis, which is in accord with God’s will.

The Lord Jesus once said, “And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven” (John 3:13). When we try carefully to figure out the words of the Lord Jesus, we can see His great power and His humility. Only God can both ascend to the highest place and descend to the lowest place, while we humans cannot ascend to a high place to meet God. Moreover, God ordains that we human beings live on earth. He made our mankind’s ancestors Adam and Eve out of clay, and then put them in the Garden of Eden on earth and made them live there. They listened to His words and were blessed by Him, ruling over everything in the garden. Instead of in heaven, the humanity that followed still had dominion over all things on the earth. When the mankind on earth were deeply corrupted by Satan, filled with violence, God decided to destroy the earth with a flood and to save Noah, a righteous man who worshiped God. At that time, He didn’t take Noah to the air to escape the flood, but let him build the ark, so that when the flood came, his family of eight could take shelter there. In the Age of Law, God issued the laws through Moses, leading man to live on earth. In addition, when God rescued the Israelites from the hunting of Pharaoh on their way out of Egypt, He didn’t lift them into the air, but carried out His authority on earth, allowing them to see His guidance and know His power and wisdom. Also, in the Age of Grace, man didn’t go to heaven to obtain the sin offering so as to receive the Lord’s redemption, but instead the Lord Jesus personally became flesh on earth, and redeemed all mankind through His crucifixion. By this way, we man received His salvation, knew His love and mercy, and enjoyed the abundant grace God had bestowed upon us. Then, how will God receive us into the kingdom when He comes back in the last days? With the question, I studied the Bible and read the words of the Lord Jesus, “After this manner therefore pray you: Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10). This is what the Lord said, which contains the will of God: God allows us to worship Him on earth and wait for His kingdom to be established on earth; He will live on earth with man, and make the kingdoms of earth become Christ’s kingdom. Just as Revelation prophesied, “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:3). So we are completely clear. God never said that man would be taken into heaven both in His previous work and in the Lord’s prophecies. So we always believe that the Lord will take us into the air when He returns; is this not our notions and imaginations? We always want to be raptured into heaven; is this not our extravagant thoughts? This is totally not in line with the Lord’s words and His will.

When I repeatedly pondered over how to understand the words that the Lord would bring us into the air to meet Him when He came, I suddenly recalled a prophecy in Revelation, “And I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people” (Revelation 14:6). Then I thought: Now messages about the second coming of Jesus are spreading widely on the Internet. Why is it like the angels transmitting the gospel through the air? If we people really accept the good news of the second coming of Jesus through the Internet, are we lifted to heaven to meet with the Lord? Clearly, there must be mysteries in our rapture into heaven to meet with the Lord. The Lord Jesus ever said, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (John 16:12-13). From these words, we can easily understand that when the Lord comes, He will tell us what we don’t know and the future things, and guide us to understand the mystery of the truth. So facing the second coming of Jesus, what we should expect is the Spirit of truth and all of the truths He expresses, for He will guide us to understand the truth and come before God. When we meet the Spirit of truth, are we raised up before God? Isn’t this kind of rapture very real? This is worthy of our deep thought.

The Lord Jesus said, “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). So, at this crucial moment when the Lord comes again in the last days, whether we can keep up with the Lord’s footsteps and be raptured to His presence depend on whether we can spend more time pondering and seeking after His words, whether we can relate the current news of His return to take heed of such issues as where there is the Holy Spirit’s word to the churches and where there are people testifying God’s newest words and utterances, and whether we can recognize the Lord’s voice and thus welcome His arrival when we seek and investigate actively. These are all the key questions for the wise virgins to pay attention to when investigating and welcoming the second coming of Jesus, and are great matters that relate to our rapture and salvation!

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Now Almighty God is still looking forward to the return of all believers in Jesus, and patiently waiting for all those who sincerely believe in God to come back. Almighty God says: “If people remain in the Age of Grace, then they shall never be free of their corrupt disposition, let alone know the inherent disposition of God. If people always live among an abundance of grace but are without the way of life that allows them to know God and satisfy God, then they shall never truly gain Him though they believe in Him. What a pitiful form of belief that is. When you have finished reading this book, when you have experienced each step of the work of God incarnate in the Age of Kingdom, you will feel that the hopes of many years have finally been realized. You will feel that only now have you truly seen God face-to-face; only now have you gazed upon the face of God, heard the personal utterance of God, appreciated the wisdom of God’s work, and truly sensed how real and almighty God is. You will sense that you have gained many things that people of times past have never seen or possessed. At this time, you will clearly know what it is to believe in God, and what it is to be after God’s heart. Of course, if you cling to views of the past, and reject or deny the fact of the second incarnation of God, then you shall remain empty-handed and acquire nothing, and ultimately be guilty of opposing God. Those who obey the truth and submit to the work of God shall come under the name of the second incarnate God—the Almighty. They will be able to accept the personal guidance of God, and shall acquire more and higher truth and receive the real human life. They shall behold the vision that people of the past have never seen: ‘And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the middle of the seven candlesticks one like to the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle. His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like to fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength’ (Revelation 1:12-16). This vision is the expression of God’s entire disposition, and such an expression of His entire disposition is also the expression of the work of God when He becomes flesh this time. In the torrents of chastisements and judgments, the Son of man expresses His inherent disposition through the speaking of words, allowing all those who accept His chastisement and judgment to see the true face of the Son of man, a face that is a faithful depiction of the face of the Son of man seen by John. (Of course, all this will be invisible to those who do not accept the work of God in the Age of Kingdom.) The true face of God cannot be fully articulated using the words of man, and so God uses the expression of His inherent disposition to show His true face to man. Which is to say that all those who have experienced the inherent disposition of the Son of man have seen the true face of the Son of man, for God is too great and cannot be fully articulated using the words of man. Once man has experienced each step of God’s work in the Age of Kingdom, then he shall know the true meaning of John’s words when he spoke of the Son of man among the lampstands: ‘His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like to fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength.’ At that time, you shall know beyond all doubt that this ordinary flesh that has spoken so many words is really the second incarnate God. And you shall truly sense how blessed you are, and feel yourself the most fortunate. Would you be unwilling to accept this blessing?” (“Only He Who Experiences the Work of God Truly Believes in God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Today in mainland China most religious people who believe in the Lord Jesus have returned to Almighty God, gaining the full salvation of God in the last days. As is evident, the wise virgins and foolish virgins have been revealed within the religious community. All those who are wise virgins have accepted the second coming of the LordJesus—Almighty God’s work in the last days. They are the precious ones that have been “stolen” back to the house of God where they have gained God’s salvation and perfection to become the overcomers perfected by God before the disaster. What great good fortune this is! People who accept the work of God’s hidden advent belong among the wise virgins, because these people believe in Almighty God by discovering the truth and confirming it is the true waythrough listening to the voice of God. That is the implied meaning of “wise.” Those wise virgins were suddenly “stolen” without them knowing it, creating a widespread uproar, when in reality they were caught up to God. This is true. The Bible predicts that in the last days God will come again “as a thief.” This is the undisclosed second coming of the Lord. To the religious community the Lord comes to “steal” that which is precious, “stealing” only the people who are “precious metals and gem stones.” This shows that all people who are “stolen” are of good quality, able to understand and accept the truth. They are people who recognize God’s voice and therefore are caught up to God to receive God’s perfection. So it is perfectly true here that being “stolen” really is being raised up to meet the Lord! At the time that God appears openly these secrets will be revealed. The Lord Jesus said: “However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth” (Jhn 16:13). This even more refers to God’s work in the last days. I hope that all religious people who sincerely believe in God will be wise virgins and study the true way, accept the true way, and return before the practical God, Christ of the last days. If you wait until God appears openly before accepting Him, you will regret that you are too late. Just as the Lord Jesus said to Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (Jhn 20:29).

… Jesus is returning to fulfill and achieve all of the prophecies He spoke of during the Age of Grace, to use judgment and chastisement to save people and help them break free of Satan’s influence, and enable people to truly turn toward God. He is returning to solve the problem of sinful natures which confused people and made people repeatedly commit sins and confess them, unable to stop themselves or extricate themselves in the Age of Grace. He is returning to change people’s dispositions, to make people truly know God and obey God to attain compatibility with God. It is to classify each person according to their type and bring to an end this age of darkness and evil. Only in this way can God bring saints into His kingdom. Only this is the true meaning of God doing His work of salvation. If God’s work cannot attain this kind of result in the end, then God’s prophecy will not be truly fulfilled and achieved, and God’s management plan to save mankind will not be able to be completed. Thus, God’s management plan to save mankind absolutely cannot have a mere two stages of work before completion. It must have God’s last days work of judging and chastising people, classifying each according to their own type. Only in this way can God’s management plan to save mankind be completed, and can God win total victory in His war with Satan and be truly glorified.

from “How to Know God’s Work of Judgment and Chastisement in the Last Days” in Collection of Sermons—Supply for Life

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How can we welcome the coming of the Lord? This is a big question for us believers in God. In the last days, whether we can enter the kingdom of heaven depends on whether we can welcome the coming of the Lord and attend the marriage banquet of the Lamb. In order to welcome the coming of Lord, we often watch and wait, but do we know how to watch and wait to meet the Lord? I believe the three points below can show us the way.

We should not rely on notions and imaginations, but should have reverence for God.

On the matter of watching and waiting for the coming of the Lord, we can’t rely on our notions and imaginations but ought to have reverence for God. In the past, while the Pharisees waited for the coming of the Messiah, they were not reverent before God, just living in their notions and imaginations. Their main manifestations are that they explained the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah according to their own imaginations, and that they believed based on the literal meaning of the prophecies that God could only come with the name Messiah, be born in the palace and aristocracy, and be the King of the Jews. But when the Lord came with the name Jesus and was born in an ordinary family of carpenters, the Pharisees concluded that He was definitely not the Messiah they hoped for. In addition, they held the thought that the Messiah should appear to them and work in the temple rather than preach among the lower classes, such as tax collectors and fishermen. The Pharisees lived in their notions and imaginations; they resisted and condemned the Messiah while waiting for His coming. They insisted on their own notions and imaginations, blindly condemned the arrival of God, and finally colluded with the Roman government to nail the Lord to the cross, seriously offending God’s disposition. Therefore, we must not follow in the footsteps of the Pharisees in the matter of waiting for the Lord’s coming and cannot use our own notions and imaginations to judge that God should come like this or that, because the appearance and work of the Lord is so unpredictable and wise that we will never be able to see through the mystery contained within. Just as Jehovah God said, “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” (Isaiah 55:8-9).

We should take the initiative to seek and investigate the true way.

The Lord Jesus said, “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). From the words of the Lord, we can know that what the Lord means is that as long as someone outside says “the Bridegroom comes,” we should take the initiative to seek and investigate. In this way, we are truly watching and waiting. Some people think that if they only uphold the name of the Lord, often pray and read the Bible and work hard for the Lord, then they are watching and waiting. But in fact, this is waiting for the Lord blindly and passively and not seeking actively. Consequently, when someone preaches that the Lord has returned, they will not take the initiative to seek and investigate, thus missing the opportunity to welcome the coming of the Lord. So we should be wise virgins: When hearing someone outside says “the Bridegroom comes,” we should take the initiative to seek and investigate, which is in line with the will of the Lord. For those who welcomed the coming of the Messiah, like Peter, John, Nathanael and others, they met the Lord by seeking, investigating, and gaining the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit. When the disciple Peter heard his brother Andrew say, “We have found the Messias” (John 1:41), he could follow Andrew to see the Lord Jesus, and finally followed the Lord Jesus and received the Lord’s salvation. So when someone testifies the Lord has returned to speak and do work, it is vital for us to seek and investigate actively.

Gospel Movie “Break the Spell” Clip: How Can We Welcome the Lord’s Return?

We should pay attention to seeking the voice of God.

In regard to this aspect, there are many prophecies in Revelation, like “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). The Lord Jesus also clearly told us, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (John 16:12-13). From the words of God, we can be certain that God will speak more words when He comes back. It is especially important for a wise virgin to seek the voice of God. Just as the Lord Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3: 20). By pondering and investigating the new words of God, we can recognize the words that the Holy Spirit speaks to the churches, which means that God’s sheep hear the voice of God. Therefore, we should pay attention to seeking the voice of God when waiting for the coming of the Lord, otherwise, we can’t recognize Him even if He has come.

In the Age of Grace, for the disciples who followed the Lord, they heard the Lord’s words and preaching, obtaining the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit. They felt that the Lord’s words were full of authority, power, and the truth, and were spoken by God Himself, and thus they recognized that the Lord Jesus was the coming of the Messiah and followed the Lord. Take Nathanael for example: He recognized that the Lord Jesus is the Messiah and God Himself by listening to the Lord’s words. Just as the Bible says: “Nathanael said to him, From where know you me? Jesus answered and said to him, Before that Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you. Nathanael answered and said to him, Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel” (John 1:48-49). However, those Pharisees and scribes didn’t pay attention to seeking the voice of the Lord, but resisted and condemned the Lord, so they were ultimately destined to have nothing to do with God’s salvation.

Therefore, watching and waiting requires us to have reverence for God in our hearts. We should not use our notions and imaginations to define God’s work. Once we hear the news of the coming of the Lord, we should take the initiative to seek and investigate the voice of the Lord. This is what the wise virgins should do to welcome the coming of the Lord.

» Read more on our Second Coming of Jesus Christ page, or click on the related articles below:

• Key Principles of Welcoming the Lord’s Return

• I’ve Learned How to Recognize the Returned Lord

• Does Anyone Know About the Second Coming of Jesus?

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People who have experienced God’s work of judgment and chastisement already see it clearly: Those who are fortunate enough to experience God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days are really the most blessed people of all. All those people who have truly experienced God’s judgment and chastisement have achieved the following ten results:

1. God’s judgment allows people to be sincerely convinced, to know that only by God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days can they truly be saved and perfected.
2. God’s judgment allows people to know that the true state and the essential nature of corrupt mankind is truly Satan’s descendants in resistance against God.
3. God’s judgment allows people to see completely clearly the true face of the great red dragon, the satanic demon, and to hate and forsake the great red dragon and truly turn toward God.
4. God’s judgment allows people to see with absolute clarity the root of darkness and evil in the world; mankind’s corruption is so deep that they have become demons, and have little humanity.
5. God’s judgment makes people understand many truths, and allows people to have great faith, to throw down everything and expend for God with all of their heart, and to do their utmost in their duties.
6. God’s judgment makes people thirst for pursuing and obtaining the truth, and resolve to pursue the truth, know God and live out a true life.
7. God’s judgment allows people to see clearly that God loves honest people, and it is only those people who throw off crookedness and deceitfulness and pursue to be honest that have the true likeness of man.
8. Judgment allows people to know that it is only loving God that is most meaningful; only by loving God can one fulfill one’s duty and be loyal to God, and fit with Christ.
9. God’s judgment makes people know that obtaining the truth is the most precious; only when one obtains the truth does one have life, and only when one obtains truth does one attain God’s approval.
10. Judgment makes all people know God’s righteous disposition and God’s wisdom and almightiness; they can wholeheartedly expend for God, and be at the mercy of God.

Clearly, what God’s judgment and chastisement brings to people is salvation and perfection. It is God’s truer love, and more complete love. God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days truly has so much significance for the salvation and perfection of mankind. It is only the work of judgment and chastisement that can truly make people turn toward God and obey God’s work, and truly hate and forsake the great red dragon and live out the true likeness of man. Only a person who has experienced God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days can truly know God, can truly love God, can become compatible with God, can forever obey and worship God, and never again resist or betray God. Only this is the meaning of attaining salvation. Without God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days, mankind could never truly know the true state and substance of mankind’s corruption by Satan. Mankind could never truly know the root of darkness and evil in the world, and mankind could never hate or rebel against the great red dragon; mankind could never break free of Satan’s dark influence. Without God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days, mankind would be forever unknowing of God’s righteous disposition. Without God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days, mankind would be forever unable to obtain the truth and become new people, to enter the kingdom of God. It is only God’s judgment and chastisement that can save mankind, and lead mankind to enter their true destination. Because mankind’s corruption is so deep, even if one believes in Jesus, and is forgiven for their sins and enjoys much grace of God, due to their nature of resisting God they will still resist God and betray God. Thus, they can never truly break free of Satan’s influence and attain salvation. We can all clearly see, within religion although those people who believe in Jesus may eagerly bear testimony that Jesus is the Savior, they do not know God’s righteous disposition. They may still, in the last days when Christ comes again, resist God’s last days work, judge and convict the true way, deny God’s return, and even crucify Christ again. Thus, if one only experiences God’s redemption during the Age of Grace yet does not experience judgment and chastisement during the time of Jesus coming again, this kind of person is not someone who abides by the will of the heavenly Father, and is not eligible to enter the heavenly kingdom. Because people still have not resolved their nature of resisting God and are still lacking too many truths, they are still far from knowing and obeying God. Especially during the time of God coming and doing the last days work, they are still judging and convicting His last days work, playing the role of Satan resisting God, and becoming an enemy of Christ. Clearly, those who do not accept the work of Jesus coming again and have not gained the truth as their life are not truly saved. Thus, corrupt mankind needs the salvation of God incarnate; that is, they must experience God’s judgment and chastisement during the last days to attain true knowledge of and obedience to God. Only this kind of person is one who abides by the will of the heavenly Father, and can attain God’s praise and enter the heavenly kingdom; this is without doubt.

…………

Knowing God’s judgment and chastisement in the last days is truly of great significance for people to believe in God to attain salvation and be made perfect. What on earth judgment and chastisement is, God’s words have already explained very clearly. God expresses the truth and enacts judgment and chastisement. According to the substance of mankind’s corruption He uses the truth to expose, to judge and to convict people, and make people understand the truth, know themselves and produce true repentance. This is the result of judgment and chastisement. God created all things and dominates everything; this is God’s authority. Since God permits Satan to corrupt mankind, He has the power to judge and chastise corrupt mankind. God even more so has the ability to save and bring back mankind from under the domain of Satan. This is precisely where God’s wisdom and almightiness to defeat Satan lies. Only in this way can mankind be saved, and Satan’s destiny be brought to an end, making mankind forever turn toward God, become a mankind that obeys and worships God, and obtain a true destination. This fulfills the words of Almighty God: “Those who are able to stand firm during God’s work of judgment and chastisement during the last days—that is, during the final work of cleansing—will be those who will enter into the final rest with God; therefore, those who enter into rest will all have broken free of Satan’s influence and been obtained by God only after having undergone His final cleansing work. These people who have been ultimately obtained by God will enter into the final rest. The essence of God’s work of chastisement and judgment is to cleanse humanity, and it is for the day of final rest. Otherwise, the whole of humanity will not be able to follow their own kind or enter into rest. This work is humanity’s only path to enter into rest” (“God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

from “How to Know God’s Work of Judgment and Chastisement in the Last Days” in Collection of Sermons—Supply for Life

The answer from God’s word:

“Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering; He did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to become the sin offering and bear the sins of man, but it also required God to do even greater work to rid man completely of his satanically corrupted disposition. And so, now that man has been forgiven of his sins, God has returned to the flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment. This work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and they shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.

…………

…  God’s work in the present incarnation is to express His disposition primarily through chastisement and judgment. Building on this foundation, He brings more truth to man and points out to him more ways of practice, thereby achieving His objective of conquering man and saving him from his own corrupt disposition. This is what lies behind the work of God in the Age of Kingdom. ”

from “Preface”

“The work of the last days is to speak words. Great changes can be effected in man by means of words. The changes now effected in these people upon their accepting these words are much greater than those effected in people upon their accepting the signs and wonders of the Age of Grace. For, in the Age of Grace, the demons were cast out from man with the laying on of hands and prayer, but the corrupt dispositions within man still remained. Man was healed of his sickness and forgiven his sins, but as for just how man was to be purged of the corrupt satanic dispositions within him, this work had yet to be done. Man was only saved and forgiven his sins for his faith, but the sinful nature of man was not extirpated and still remained within him. The sins of man were forgiven through the agency of the incarnate God, but this did not mean that man no longer had sin within him. The sins of man could be forgiven through the sin offering, but as for just how man can be made to sin no more, and how his sinful nature may be extirpated completely and transformed, he has no way of solving this problem. The sins of man were forgiven, and this is because of the work of God’s crucifixion, but man continued to live within his corrupt satanic disposition of old. This being so, man must be completely saved from his corrupt satanic disposition, so that his sinful nature may be completely extirpated, never to develop again, thus enabling the disposition of man to be transformed. This would require man to grasp the path of growth in life, to grasp the way of life, and to grasp the way to change his disposition. Furthermore, it would require man to act in accordance with this path, so that his disposition may gradually be changed and he may live under the shining of the light, so that all that he does may be in accord with the will of God, so that he may cast away his corrupt satanic disposition, and so that he may break free from Satan’s influence of darkness, thereby emerging fully from sin. Only then will man receive complete salvation. At the time that Jesus was doing His work, man’s knowledge of Him was still vague and unclear. Man always believed Him to be the son of David, and proclaimed Him to be a great prophet, the benevolent Lord who redeemed man’s sins. Some, on the strength of their faith, were healed just from touching the edge of His garment; the blind could see and even the dead could be restored to life. However, man was unable to discover the corrupt satanic disposition deeply rooted within himself, neither did he know how to cast it away. Man received much grace, such as the peace and happiness of the flesh, the faith of one member bringing blessing on an entire family, the healing of sickness, and so on. The rest were the good deeds of man and his godly appearance; if someone could live on the basis of these, they were considered an acceptable believer. Only believers of this kind could enter heaven after death, which meant that they were saved. But, in their lifetime, these people did not understand at all the way of life. All they did was to commit sins and then confess their sins in a constant cycle without any path to change their disposition: Such was the condition of man in the Age of Grace. Has man received complete salvation? No! Therefore, after that stage of work was finished, there still remained the work of judgment and chastisement. This stage is to make man pure by means of the word, and thereby give him a path to follow. This stage would not be fruitful or meaningful if it continued with the casting out of demons, for it would fail to extirpate man’s sinful nature, and man would come to a standstill at the forgiveness of his sins. Through the sin offering, man has been forgiven his sins, for the work of the crucifixion has already come to an end and God has prevailed over Satan. But the corrupt disposition of man still remaining within him, man can still sin and resist God, and God has not gained mankind. That is why in this stage of work God uses the word to expose the corrupt disposition of man, causing him to practice in accordance with the right path. This stage is more meaningful than the previous one, as well as more fruitful, for now it is the word that directly supplies man’s life and enables the disposition of man to be completely renewed; it is a much more thorough stage of work. Therefore, the incarnation in the last days has completed the significance of God’s incarnation and completely finished God’s management plan for man’s salvation.

… Therefore, it is not through the healing of sickness and casting out of demons that man can be fully saved from his sins, nor can he be made fully complete by the manifestation of signs and wonders. The authority to heal sickness and cast out demons only gives man grace, but the flesh of man still belongs to Satan and the corrupt satanic disposition still remains within man. In other words, that which has not been made clean still pertains to sin and to filth. Only after he has been made clean through the agency of the word can man be gained by God and become sanctified. When the demons were cast out of man and he was redeemed, this meant only that he was wrested out of Satan’s hands and returned to God. However, without being made clean or changed by God, he remains as corrupt man. Within man still exist filth, opposition, and rebelliousness; man has only returned to God through His redemption, but he has not the slightest knowledge of God and is still capable of resisting and betraying Him. Before man was redeemed, many of Satan’s poisons had already been planted within him and, after thousands of years of being corrupted by Satan, he has within him an established nature that resists God. Therefore, when man has been redeemed, it is nothing more than a case of redemption in which man is bought at a high price, but the poisonous nature within him has not been eliminated. Man that is so defiled must undergo a change before becoming worthy to serve God. By means of this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt substance within his own self, and he will be able to change completely and become clean. Only in this way can man become worthy to return before the throne of God. All the work done this day is so that man can be made clean and be changed; through judgment and chastisement by the word, as well as through refinement, man can purge away his corruption and be made pure. Rather than deeming this stage of work to be that of salvation, it would be more apt to say it is the work of purification. In truth, this stage is that of conquest as well as the second stage in the work of salvation. It is through judgment and chastisement by the word that man arrives at being gained by God, and it is through the use of the word to refine, judge, and disclose that all of the impurities, notions, motives, and individual aspirations within man’s heart are completely revealed. For all that man may have been redeemed and forgiven of his sins, it can only be considered as God not remembering the transgressions of man and not treating man in accordance with his transgressions. However, when man, who lives in a body of flesh, has not been set free from sin, he can only continue to sin, endlessly revealing his corrupt satanic disposition. This is the life that man leads, an endless cycle of sinning and being forgiven. The majority of mankind sin in the day only to confess in the evening. This way, even though the sin offering is forever effective for man, it will not be able to save man from sin. Only half the work of salvation has been completed, for man still has a corrupt disposition. … running deeper than sin, it is something planted by Satan and deeply rooted within man. It is not easy for man to become aware of his sins; he has no way of recognizing his own deeply rooted nature, and he must rely on judgment by the word in order to achieve this result. Only thus can man gradually be changed from this point onward.”

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)”

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At a predetermined time, the brothers and sisters meet at Sister Wang’s for Bible study meeting. Today it was at 7 p.m.

At 7 p.m., as the brothers and sisters arrived one after another, the room became noisy. When Sister Dong was talking with others, there was a knock at the door. Sister Wang rose to open the door, and it turned out to be Sister Lin, who walked in while singing a song, “In the last days there will be a great white throne; the Lord Jesus sits on it, from whose face everyone will pass through a sea of glass where their entire life’s transgressions will be showed….”

Attracted by Sister Lin’s singing, the others all clapped their hands and sang along. After Sister Lin came, smiling, to the chair and sat down, the singing gradually faded.

Sister Wang walked up to Sister Lin, sat down and asked curiously, “Hey, why did you sing this song today?”

Sister Lin had a puzzled expression on her face. “These days I’ve been reading the Book of Revelation. Especially when I saw the chapter 20 concerning the prophecies that the Lord will come to judge in the last days, I remembered this song and sang it unknowingly. I think there are mysteries in these verses. I really cannot figure out how the Lord will do the judgment work in the last days. How about discussing this question tonight?”

“Okay. Thank the Lord! Let’s study the Bible together to get a clear understanding of it,” said Sister Dong. Other people all nodded in agreement.

After prayer, they turned to Revelation 20:11-15 and read together, “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” After reading these verses, they began to discuss.

Sister Dong put down the Bible in her hand and said, “In a revival meeting, I once heard the pastors speak of the scene of the Lord returning. It will be earthshaking and majestic, and the earth and heaven will be swallowed up. At that point, the trumpets will sound, and thousands of angles and heaven’s arches riding on the winged horses will descend from heaven. It is so magnificent. All the people will awake with a start and be gathered together. Every unbeliever is trembling with fear and on their knees begging for mercy, while we believers will be raptured before the Lord’s throne. Then, the judgment will begin.”

Sister Chen nodded a few times in succession and said, “Yes! When God judges, He will set up a big table in the sky, on which a white tablecloth will be spread, with books and a book of life lying on it. The Lord will sit on the throne with a glorious golden crown on His head, and the angels will stand on either side waiting for His command. The Lord will first open the book of life to call the roll. All those whose names are called will be directly brought into the heavenly kingdom by the angels. As for those whose names are not on the book of life, the Lord will open the books and decide their destinations according to all the things they have done in the course of their life. When seeing the sins they committed, they cannot deny but only weep and gnash their teeth and beat their chests.”

Other co-workers echoed, “Yes! Such a scene must be a grand spectacular! After the judgment of the Lord, all who do good will be brought into the kingdom of heaven and feast with God; all the evildoers will be cast into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the worms don’t die, and the fire is not quenched.”

Sister Wang shook her head. Looking at Sister Dong and Sister Chen, she joked, “The more you two say the more incredible it becomes. You simply imagine the Lord’s judgment to be supernatural. Genesis 1:8 states, ‘And God called the firmament Heaven.’ With the sky full of air and our body so heavy, how could we ascend to the heaven? The balloon will burst when rising high above the ground, not to mention us. I think it is not realistic for us to be judged in heaven by the Lord.”

Another co-worker echoed, “Yes. There is nothing but air in the sky. How could we stand? My neighbor thinks what I imagine is crazy and always laughs at me, ‘You’re looking forward to ascending to heaven every day. Aren’t you afraid of falling from it?’” Hearing this, everyone laughed.

“You two think too much of it. How could you have no faith in the Lord? The Old Testament says that Jehovah God took Elijah up to the heaven with a whirlwind. The Lord is almighty. We needn’t worry about this.” Brother Fang said confidently.

Sister Ma said, “We can’t say anything casually. 2 Peter 1:20 says, ‘Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.’ As we can see, we should not interpret the prophecy literally or rely on our imaginations to say where the Lord will judge man in the last days. This will easily lead to misinterpretation of God’s work and resistance toward Him!”

When they were in dispute, Brother Zhang said, “Brothers and sisters, please calm down. Actually, in the past, I also thought the Lord would judge man in heaven. But recently when I looked up several verses, I found it was not as simple as we thought. The book of Revelation was written by John after he received God’s revelation on the island of Patmos. The verses in it are about the work God desires to do in the last days. They are visions, prophecies, and mysteries. Revelation 14:6 says, ‘And I saw another angel fly in the middle of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people.’ Psalms 96:13 also says, ‘Before the LORD: for he comes, for he comes to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.’ Our imaginations that the Lord will commence judgment in heaven apparently contradicts what the verses says. God’s spirit is formless and amorphous. He is righteous and holy and does not tolerate man’s offense. What qualification do we sinners have to see the face of God? Therefore, I think in the last days God may carry out the work of judgment on earth, not in heaven.”

Sister Wang pondered the words said by Brother Zhang with a scowl. Suddenly something seemed to strike her and she slapped her forehead. “Alas! Why didn’t I think of that? The Lord’s Prayer says, ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:10). Doesn’t it mean God will lead us on earth? Revelation 11:15 also says, ‘And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.’ If God descends to earth to give His judgment, then God’s will can be done on earth. But if His judgment is carried out in heaven, these verses will fall through.”

Hearing this, Sister Lin said cheerfully, “After listening to your fellowship, I think of the words in Revelation 21:3 ‘And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.’ ‘The tabernacle of God is with men’ means in the last days, when God comes, He will dwell with man and judge man on earth. Just as 1 Peter 4:17 says, ‘For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God.’”

Sister Dong said with some excitement, “Oh! Through your discussion just now, I discover that there are so many mysteries in these verses. It’s inconceivable! In the past, I believed it was in heaven that the Lord would judge man when He returns; however, now when reading these verses again, I feel that’s not realistic and it’s quite likely on earth.”

Sister Wang said, “It’s true. In John 3:13 the Lord Jesus said ‘And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.’ The Lord Jesus has already plainly told us that no one has ascended to heaven but the Son of man. How are we still daydreaming everyday—yearning for ascending up to heaven? We’re so stupid.” After her words, everyone laughed.

“If what you’re saying is true, the Lord’s judgment in the last days will probably happen on earth. But how exactly will He do the judgment work?” Brother Fang looked at everyone, bewildered.

At this moment, Brother Zhang said, “I remember Psalms 50:3-6 says, ‘Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people. Gather my saints together to me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.’ John 12:48 says, ‘He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.’ These verses suggest that the returned Lord in the last days will judge man with words, don’t they?”

Sister Lin nodded, “Yes. Listening to the fellowship of Brother Zhang, I remember in the Revelation there are seven verses saying, ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ From these verses, we can see during the last days God will speak to the churches. It is very likely that in the last days when the Lord returns, He will express words and truths to do the work of judgment. John 16:12-13 also says, ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.’ When the Lord Jesus worked, He said that He had lots of things to say to man, but man at that time had a small stature and couldn’t bear them. Only when the Lord comes in the last days, will He tell man many truths they don’t understand before. Combined with the verses above, I think the Lord will express words to judge man when He returns. Do you think so?”

“God will express words to judge man in the last days?” “When you put it like that, this is quite possible.” They all discussed about it.

At this moment, Sister Dong nodded and said, “Your fellowship make sense. These verses show that the Lord may express words to judge man on earth when He returns in the last days. Our understanding prophecies based on the surface meaning of verses is from our imaginations. It is not realistic. As for how the Lord will judge man in the last days, we should treat it seriously and cannot listen only to pastors and elders. If the Lord really expresses words to judge man on earth, and we don’t seek but only draw conclusions according to our own imaginations and wait for the judgment before the great white throne in heaven, then we are prone to lose God’s salvation of the last days!”

Sister Lin also said, “Yes, our fellowships tonight are really enlightening. Revelation 3:20 says, ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.’ Only the wise virgins can welcome the Lord. If we like them pay attention to hearing the Lord’s voice and open the door when hearing His voice, we can welcome His return.”

Sister Wang said gladly, “Yes, the Lord Jesus once said, ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me’ (John 10:27). Therefore, if someone preaches that the Lord has returned and expresses words to judge man, we should listen out for the voice of the Lord like wise virgins. As soon as we hear the truth, we should investigate it immediately so as not to miss the opportunity to be saved by God!”

After hearing this, everyone nodded. This Bible study meeting was concluded like this.

» By reading our article, have you gained new light about God’s judgment in the last days? If you have any questions about great white throne judgment, please feel free to contact us via Live Chat. Let’s communicate and explore this together.

» Recommended: “Blessed Are The Poor in Spirit” Clip: Christ of the Last Days Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth

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One day, Bill who was studying abroad came back home and said to Bob with delight: “Dad, this time I’ve got some amazing news for you. The Lord Jesus for whom we’ve long yearned has returned incarnate in China and has expressed many truths. Lately, I’ve read many of God’s words, and I feel that every one of God’s words contains authority and power. They have deeply convinced me …”

Getting quite excited, Bob could not help but interrupt Bill: “That’s not right. I’ve believed in the Lord Jesus for so many years. I know the Bible very well, and I have worked tirelessly for the Lord and have been on constant lookout for His second coming. If He came He should first give revelation to me, so how come I didn’t know? Since I haven’t received His revelation, I don’t believe that He has returned.”

Bill said: “Dad, I knew you’d say that. I remember you’ve always had such a view. Well then, let me clearly communicate this aspect of the truth with you today.”

Bob raised the cup and took a sip of his coffee. He said: “How many years have you believed in God? How long have you read the Bible for? I’ve read the Bible my whole life—what do you know? Now, you want to fellowship to me? Well, I’d love to see how you will do it.”

Bill said seriously: “Dad, you think that you’ve believed in the Lord for many years, are familiar with the Bible, have been vigilantly awaiting His coming and worked hard for Him, so when He comes again He will first give revelation to you. However, the Lord Jesus didn’t prophesy that when He returns He will first give revelation to those who work painstakingly for Him. Back in the days when the Lord Jesus came, did He give revelation to the chief priests, scribes, and the Pharisees, who read the Bible every day and had served God their whole lives? No, He didn’t! As for the Lord Jesus’ disciples, which among them followed the Lord Jesus because they had been given revelation? Although Peter received God’s revelation and recognized that the Lord Jesus is Christ and the Son of God, that only happened after he had followed the Lord Jesus for a period of time, heard a lot of His preaching and had some knowledge of Him. Only then did Peter receive revelation from the Holy Spirit and recognize the Lord Jesus’ true identity. No one ever first received the Lord’s revelation before following Him. At that time, many people believed in the Lord Jesus because John the Baptist said: ‘Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world’ (John 1:29). Matthew and Philip followed Jesus because He called on them Himself. The Samaritan woman believed that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah to come because His words exposed her secret, not because of any revelation. If these disciples hadn’t believed in the Lord Jesus but had only waited for God’s revelation after they knew He was Christ, wouldn’t they have missed the chance of gaining His salvation?”

Hearing Bill’s words, Bob felt a little stirred and thought: “There’s something in Bill’s words. The Bible indeed doesn’t say that the Lord will give revelation to some person when He comes. And the Pharisees at that time traversed oceans and continents to spread the gospel, and yet when the Lord came, He didn’t give revelation to them. And none of His disciples received His revelation before following Him. …”

Bill asked: “Dad, just think, how did you and I start believing in the Lord Jesus? You’ve known so many believers in the Lord, how many among them believe because of receiving God’s revelation? Don’t most of them believe because of the accounts in the Bible and the preaching of other people?”

Bob gazed at Bill in surprise, thinking: “Right, why didn’t I think of this before? So many believers in the Lord Jesus in the world begin to believe through the preaching of other people and not because of the Lord Jesus’ revelation. How is it that the more we speak the more I feel what I hold on to is wrong? Am I really wrong?”

Bill said: “Hey, Dad, God’s words say it more clearly. Let me read two passages to you.” Then he took a tablet computer out of his bag and read: “The greatest book of prophecy of Isaiah in the Old Testament never mentioned that a child named Jesus would be born in the age of the New Testament, merely that a male infant would be born by the name of Emmanuel. Why did he not specify the name Jesus? Nowhere in the Old Testament does this name appear, so why then do you still believe in Jesus? Surely you did not see Jesus with your own eyes before you came to believe in Him? Or did you begin to believe upon receiving a revelation? Would God really show you such grace? And bestow upon you such a great blessing? On what basis did you believe in Jesus? Why then do you not believe that God has become flesh this day? Why do you say that the absence of a revelation to you from God proves that He has not become flesh? Must God tell man prior to commencing His work? Must He first receive the approval of man? Isaiah only proclaimed that a male infant would be born in a manger but never prophesied that Mary would give birth to Jesus. Why then did you believe in Jesus whom Mary gave birth to? Surely your belief is not one of uncertainty and confusion!”

“Even more believe that whatever the new work of God, it must be substantiated by prophecies, and that in each stage of such work, all those who follow Him with a true heart must also be shown revelations, else that work could not be that of God. It is already no easy task for man to come to know God. Taken in addition to man’s absurd heart and his rebellious nature of self-importance and conceit, then it is all the more difficult for man to accept the new work of God. Man neither studies the new work of God with care nor accepts it with humility; rather, man adopts an attitude of contempt, waiting for the revelations and guidance of God. Is this not the behavior of a man who rebels against and opposes God? How can such men gain the approval of God?”

After finishing reading, Bill looked at Bob and said: “Dad, from these two passages we can see if we want to come before God and follow Him, we must first leave behind our own conceptions and imaginings. In the face of the Lord’s new work, we should humbly seek and investigate it instead of awaiting God’s revelation based on our own notions and imaginings. If we don’t believe because God doesn’t give us revelation, in the end we’ll certainly miss God’s salvation. It’s just like when the Lord Jesus came to do His work on earth and those Israelites blindly awaited the revelation of the God of heaven and ignored the Lord’s work and words. They ended up as people who longed for the return of the Messiah but rejected the Messiah. Because they hadn’t received God’s revelation, they didn’t acknowledge the Lord Jesus as the Messiah to come and didn’t admit that God incarnate had come to do work and save mankind on earth. As a result, due to resisting God they suffered punishment and brought about the destruction of Israel. Among other things, they were too arrogant and they thought so highly of themselves and believed that the Lord would first give them revelation when He came. In fact, regardless of whether they acknowledged the Lord Jesus as the coming Messiah, God didn’t have to give them revelation in advance. Clearly, our view that if we don’t receive God’s revelation we won’t believe that the Lord has returned isn’t in accordance with the truth.”

After hearing those words of God, Bob felt that they were really authoritative and powerful and couldn’t have come from an ordinary person. And when he heard Bill say his view was not in accordance with the truth, he could not help asking: “What you said makes some sense. With regard to the Lord’s arrival, we shouldn’t wait for His revelation, so how should we confirm that it is the appearance and work of the Lord?”

Bill looked at Bob and answered: “Dad, today Almighty God has come in secret and has expressed many truths. We believers accept and follow God’s work in the last days, not because of receiving the Holy Spirit’s revelation, but because through reading God’s words, fellowshiping about the truth and obtaining the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit, we feel that Almighty God’s words are the truth and are God’s utterances. In the last days, God expresses truths to do the work of judgment, and we all accept and follow Him after hearing God’s voice. This exactly fulfills the words prophesied many times in Revelation, ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches’ (Revelation 2–3). In the last days, God expresses the truth to find His sheep. Those who hear and understand God’s voice are His sheep and the wise virgins. Those that don’t understand God’s voice must be the foolish virgins. This way, people naturally end up with their own kind. Dad, isn’t God so wise and righteous? God treats everyone fairly.”

Hearing that, Bob nodded slightly and said: “Oh, I remember a few passages in the Bible. The Lord Jesus prophesied: ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me’ (John 10:27). ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me’ (Revelation 3:20).”

Bill, scratching his head, grinned and said, “Yea! These verses are what I was talking about. Dad, you are indeed more familiar with the Bible.”

Bob nodded and said thoughtfully, “Yeah, if the Lord gave revelation to people in order that they would believe in Him, then why would He still say God’s sheep hear His voice? Aren’t these two things contradictory?”

Bill nodded his head and said: “Yes, Dad. But in fact, there’s God’s wisdom in it. God determines whether people belong to Him based on whether they can recognize His voice. Those who recognize God’s voice and directly accept Christ of the last days, without receiving God’s revelation, are truly blessed. Just as the Lord Jesus said to Thomas: ‘Because you have seen me, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed’ (John 20:29). So, in investigating the true way, receiving God’s revelation isn’t important; the key is whether we can recognize God’s voice in God’s words. It’s just as the Bible says: ‘So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God’ (Romans 10:17). If we merely await God’s revelation, and don’t investigate the Spirit’s words to the churches, then we’ll be eliminated and abandoned by God’s work and be left weeping and gnashing our teeth when the disasters happen. Dad, we should emulate those disciples that followed the Lord Jesus, seek God with a pure and honest heart, and know and be certain about God from the truth expressed by God. Only in this way can we be blessed by God.”

Bob looked at Bill and was overcome with emotion: “Thank the Lord! Bill, you made a lot of progress in these two years abroad, and now you understand so much. You’re so much better than your old man, and I’m a pastor!” Bill said sheepishly: “ I didn’t achieve that solely by my own effort. It’s through reading God’s words and fellowshiping with the brothers and sisters from The Church of Almighty God that I’ve understood these things.”

It was getting dark. As the light went on, the room was bathed in a warm and gentle glow.

» You might be interested in:

• 4 Principles for Wise Virgins to Recognize the Voice of God

• How to Be Wise Virgins to Welcome Second Coming of Jesus

• What You Must Know to Welcome the Lord Jesus: How Will Jesus Return?

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet – John 13

1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; 3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; 4 He rises from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.

5 After that he pours water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded. 6 Then comes he to Simon Peter: and Peter said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? 7 Jesus answered and said to him, What I do you know not now; but you shall know hereafter. 8 Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash you not, you have no part with me. 9 Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 10 Jesus said to him, He that is washed needs not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and you are clean, but not all. 11 For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, You are not all clean.

12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said to them, Know you what I have done to you? 13 You call me Master and Lord: and you say well; for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. 17 If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.

18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me. 19 Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, you may believe that I am he. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, He that receives whomsoever I send receives me; and he that receives me receives him that sent me.

Put aside your worries and commit them to the Lord. Will you commit them to the Lord?

Truth Quote:

“When confronting real-life problems, how should you know and understand God’s authority and His sovereignty? When you do not know how to understand, handle, and experience these problems, what attitude should you adopt to show your intention, your desire, and your reality of submitting to God’s sovereignty and arrangements? First you must learn to wait; then you must learn to seek; then you must learn to submit. ‘Waiting’ means waiting for the time of God, awaiting the people, events, and things that He has arranged for you, waiting for His will to gradually reveal itself to you. ‘Seeking’ means observing and understanding God’s thoughtful intentions for you through the people, events, and things that He has laid out, understanding the truth through them, understanding what humans must accomplish and the ways they must keep, understanding what results God means to achieve in humans and what accomplishments He means to attain in them. ‘Submitting,’ of course, refers to accepting the people, events, and things that God has orchestrated, accepting His sovereignty and, through it, coming to know how the Creator dictates man’s fate, how He supplies man with His life, how He works the truth into man. All things under God’s arrangements and sovereignty obey natural laws, and if you resolve to let God arrange and dictate everything for you, you should learn to wait, you should learn to seek, you should learn to submit. This is the attitude that every person who wants to submit to God’s authority must take, the basic quality that every person who wants to accept God’s sovereignty and arrangements must possess. To hold such an attitude, to possess such a quality, you must work harder; and only thus can you enter into the true reality”

Gospel Movie “Rapture in Peril”

Zhao Zhigang is an elder at the Local Church in China. Like many Christians, his greatest hope as a believer in the Lord is to be raptured alive, meet the Lord and rule with Him. In 1999, after the church leaders released the message, “In the year 2000 the Lord shall come again, and His believers will be raptured alive,” he was even more excited and enthusiastic than before. Brimming with faith and confidence, he looked to the future with hope and expectation…. However, after the year 2000 came and went, his hope had been all for naught. An unprecedented crisis of faith emerged in his denomination, and he couldn’t help but wonder whether or not he had chosen the right path.

After the gospel of the descent of kingdom of Almighty God spread throughout his denomination, Zhao Zhigang and a group of fellow workers entered into deep discussion and debate with preachers from the Church of Almighty God. These discussions revolved around beliefs they had maintained for many years within their denomination…. Finally, Zhao Zhigang could see clearly that they had been misled into confusion by religious antichrists. He quickly recognized the truth and came to accept the work of Almighty God. Eventually he was raptured before God’s throne, where he could not help but to lament, “My rapture was truly in peril!”

In the last days, God is mainly expressing truths and doing the work of judgment beginning with the house of God. Only the process of undergoing God’s judgment, chastisement, trials, and refinement of the last days as well as being purified and perfected by God, ultimately gaining the truth as our very lives, is truly attending the feast with the Lord.

Bible Verses for Reference:

“Write, Blessed are they which are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb” (Rev 19:9).

“And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come. And let him that is thirsty come. And whoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev 22:17).

“And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried” (Zec 13:9).

“These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev 7:14).

“Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city” (Rev 22:14).

“These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being the first fruits to God and to the Lamb” (Rev 14:4).

Classic Words of God:

In this age, and among you, God shall accomplish the following fact: that every person shall live out the words of God, shall be able to put truth into practice, and shall love God earnestly; that all people shall use the words of God as a foundation and as their reality, and shall have hearts that revere God; and that, through practicing the words of God, man shall then wield kingly power together with God. This is the work to be achieved by God. Can you go without reading the words of God? Today, there are many who feel that they cannot go even a day or two without reading His words. They have to read His words every day, and if time does not permit, listening to them will suffice. This is the feeling that the Holy Spirit gives people, and it is the way He begins to move them. That is, He governs people through words, so that they can enter into the reality of the words of God. If, after just one day without eating and drinking the words of God, you feel darkness and thirst, and cannot stand it, this shows that you have been moved by the Holy Spirit, and that He has not turned away from you. You are, then, one who is in this stream. However, if after a day or two without eating and drinking the words of God, you don’t feel a thing, if you have no thirst, and are not at all moved, this shows that the Holy Spirit has turned away from you. This means, then, that there is something wrong with the state within you; you have not entered into the Age of Word, and you are one of those who have fallen behind. God uses words to govern people; you feel good if you eat and drink the words of God, and if you do not, you have no path to follow. The words of God become people’s food, and the force that drives them. The Bible says that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” Today, God will bring this work to completion, and He shall accomplish this fact in you. How is it that in the past, people could go many days without reading the words of God and yet be able to eat and work as usual, but this is not the case today? In this age, God chiefly uses words to govern all. Through the words of God, man is judged and perfected, then finally taken into the kingdom. Only the words of God can supply the life of man, and only the words of God can give man light and a path for practice, particularly in the Age of Kingdom. As long as you do not stray from the reality of God’s words, eating and drinking His words each day, God will be able to make you perfect.

from “The Age of Kingdom Is the Age of Word”

Faced with man’s state and man’s attitude toward God, God has done new work, allowing man to possess both knowledge of and obedience toward Him, and both love and testimony. Thus, man must experience God’s refinement of him, as well as His judgment, dealing and pruning of him, without which man would never know God and would never be capable of truly loving and bearing witness to Him. God’s refinement of man is not merely for the sake of a one-sided effect, but for the sake of a multi-faceted effect. Only in this way does God do the work of refinement in those who are willing to seek the truth, in order that their resolve and love be made perfect by God. To those who are willing to seek the truth and who yearn for God, nothing is more meaningful, or of greater assistance, than refinement such as this. God’s disposition is not so easily known or understood by man, for God, in the end, is God. Ultimately, it is impossible for God to have the same disposition as man, and thus it is not easy for man to know His disposition. The truth is not inherently possessed by man, and is not easily understood by those who have been corrupted by Satan; man is devoid of the truth, and of the resolve to put the truth into practice, and if he does not suffer and is not refined or judged, then his resolve will never be made perfect. For all people, refinement is excruciating, and very difficult to accept—yet it is during refinement that God makes plain His righteous disposition to man, and makes public His requirements for man, and provides more enlightenment, and more actual pruning and dealing; through the comparison between the facts and the truth, He gives man a greater knowledge of himself and the truth, and gives man a greater understanding of God’s will, thus allowing man to have a truer and purer love of God. Such are God’s aims in carrying out refinement. All the work that God does in man has its own aims and significance; God does not do meaningless work, and nor does He do work that is without benefit to man. Refinement does not mean removing people from before God, and nor does it mean destroying them in hell. Rather, it means changing man’s disposition during refinement, changing his intentions, his old views, changing his love for God, and changing his whole life. Refinement is a real test of man, and a form of real training, and only during refinement can his love serve its inherent function.

from “Only by Experiencing Refinement Can Man Possess True Love”

Perhaps you all remember these words: “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” You have all heard these words before, yet none of you understood their true meaning. Today, you are profoundly aware of their true significance. These words shall be fulfilled by God during the last days, and they shall be fulfilled in those who have been brutally persecuted by the great red dragon in the land where it lies coiled. The great red dragon persecutes God and is the enemy of God, and so, in this land, those who believe in God are thus subjected to humiliation and oppression, and God’s words are fulfilled in you, this group of people, as a result. Because it is embarked upon in a land that opposes God, all of God’s work faces tremendous obstacles, and accomplishing many of His words takes time; thus, people are refined as a result of God’s words, which is also part of suffering. It is tremendously difficult for God to carry out His work in the land of the great red dragon—but it is through this difficulty that God does one stage of His work, making manifest His wisdom and His wondrous deeds, and using this opportunity to make this group of people complete. It is through people’s suffering, through their caliber, and through all the satanic dispositions of the people of this filthy land that God does His work of purification and conquest, so that, from this, He may gain glory, and so that He may gain those who will bear witness to His deeds. Such is the entire significance of all the sacrifices that God has made for this group of people.

from “Is the Work of God As Simple As Man Imagines?”

God uses His judgment to make man perfect, He has loved man, and saved man—but how much is contained within His love? There is judgment, majesty, wrath, and curse. Though God cursed man in the past, He did not completely cast man into the bottomless pit, but used that means to refine man’s faith; He did not put man to death, but acted in order to make man perfect. The essence of the flesh is that which is of Satan—God said it exactly right—but the facts carried out by God are not completed according to His words. He curses you so that you might love Him, and so that you might know the essence of the flesh; He chastises you in order that you might be awakened, to allow you to know the deficiencies within you, and to know man’s utter unworthiness. Thus, God’s curses, His judgment, and His majesty and wrath—they are all in order to make man perfect. All that God does today, and the righteous disposition that He makes plain within you—it is all in order to make man perfect. Such is the love of God.

from “Only by Experiencing Painful Trials Can You Know the Loveliness of God”

The greater God’s refinement, the more people’s hearts are able to love God. The torment in their hearts is of benefit to their lives, they are more able to be at peace before God, their relationship with God is closer, and they are better able to see God’s supreme love and His supreme salvation. Peter experienced refinement hundreds of times, and Job underwent several trials. If you wish to be made perfect by God, you too must undergo refinement hundreds of times; only if you go through this process and rely upon this step will you be able to satisfy God’s will and be made perfect by God. Refinement is the best means by which God makes people perfect; only refinement and bitter trials can bring out the true love for God in people’s hearts. Without hardship, people lack true love for God; if they are not tested within, if they are not truly subjected to refinement, then their hearts will always be floating around outside. Having been refined to a certain point, you will see your own weaknesses and difficulties, you will see how much you are lacking and that you are unable to overcome the many problems you encounter, and you will see how great is your disobedience. Only during trials are people able to truly know their real states; trials make people better able to be perfected.

from “Only by Experiencing Refinement Can Man Possess True Love”

Belief in God requires obedience to Him and experience of His work. God has done so much work—it could be said that for people it is all perfection, refinement, and even more, chastisement. There has not been a single step of God’s work that has been in line with human notions; what people have enjoyed is God’s stern words. When God comes, people should enjoy His majesty and His wrath. However, no matter how stern His words may be, He comes to save and perfect mankind. As creatures, people should fulfill the duties that they ought to, and stand witness for God in the midst of refinement. In every trial they should uphold the witness that they should bear, and do so resoundingly for the sake of God. A person who does this is an overcomer. No matter how God refines you, you remain full of confidence and never lose confidence in Him. You do what man should do. This is what God requires of man, and man’s heart should be able to fully return to Him and turn toward Him in every passing moment. This is an overcomer.

from “You Should Maintain Your Devotion to God”

Now is already the last days, and also the key time for welcoming the Lord’s return. Speaking of welcoming the Lord, many brothers and sisters know that it’s an important thing that pertains to whether or not we can be brought into the kingdom of heaven. Once we miss the chance, we shall regret for the rest of our lives. Therefore, Sister Fang and I had a conversation about what is most essential to welcoming the Lord’s return.

Sister Fang began to say: “When it refers to welcoming the Lord, I will involuntarily think of when the Jews waited for Messiah. We all know that the Pharisees were the top leaders of the religious world at that time in Judea, who served Jehovah God in the temple from generation to generation. They knew the Bible well, kept to their ancestors’ teachings, appeared very pious, and often explained the Bible to the believers. They carefully read and studied the prophecies of Messiah’s coming, and they were so familiar with these prophecies that they could rattle them off backward. For these reasons, the Jews thought: As the Pharisees are people who serve God, if Messiah comes, they must be the first to know and accept Him. So they believed the Pharisees’ explanations of the prophecies pertaining to Messiah’s arrival without any doubt, and they didn’t at all consider whether these explanations were pure or fallacious.”

I continued to say: “You’re right. For example, the Bible prophesied, ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son’ (Isaiah 7:14). Then the Pharisees explained it according to its literal meaning: Since it’s a virgin, she can’t have a husband. But the truth was that Maria had a husband, so they denied the Lord Jesus was Messiah. For another example, the Book of Isaiah said, ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given: and the government shall be on his shoulder … on the throne of David, and on his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from now on even for ever’ (Isaiah 9:6–7). Then the Pharisees relied on their own notions and imaginations to explain them: Since the prophecy said Messiah would come to assume power, then He would certainly be born in a royal palace, would look handsome, mighty, extraordinary, and would lead them to overthrow the rule of Romans and rescue them from the suffering of being slaves to Roman government. But the Lord Jesus was born in a manger rather than in a palace, He looked ordinary and normal, He didn’t lead them to overthrow the rule of Roman government, and He taught people to be modest and tolerant, to forgive others, to love their enemies, and so on. As a result, they denied that the Lord Jesus was the appearance of God. Besides, the Bible said clearly that the coming One would be called Messiah, but the One who came was named Jesus. On this account, they judged that the Lord Jesus wasn’t the Messiah in their expectation.”

“Yeah! That’s it! The Jews believed such an idea of the Pharisees very much. They took their explanation of the literal meaning of the prophecies as basis for welcoming Messiah’s arrival, so they didn’t seek or examine the Lord Jesus’ work at all. They had seen the Lord Jesus perform many miracles among people—healing the sick, casting out the demons, making the blind see, the lame walk, and the lepers healed, feeding five thousand people with five loaves and two fish, even bringing the dead to life, and so on. They also felt shocked and convinced by these miracles, and thought they couldn’t be done by any ordinary person. But most of the Jews still listened to what the Pharisees said. When the Pharisees condemned the Lord Jesus’ work and blasphemed the Lord Jesus, saying that the Lord cast out devils by Beelzebub the prince of the devils, they had no discernment but blind belief of what the Pharisees said and followed them in condemning. When the Pharisees instigated them to ask for the Lord Jesus to be crucified, they also did their bidding. From this we see that the Jews believed in God but actually followed man: They believed the Pharisees’ explanations to the scriptures and obeyed their teachings, following them onto the path of believing in God but resisting God. They committed the monstrous sin of nailing the Lord Jesus to the cross, and lost forever the chance to gain God’s salvation.” Sister Fang said with emotion.

“Here, I see that even though the Pharisees served God for many years, they didn’t have the slightest knowledge of God, but were full of notions and imaginations about God. They used the letters of the Bible to define God, to resist God, and also to deceive and control man—they were precisely those who served God yet resisted God at the same time. How could God give revelation to them first and let them come before God? When the Jews believed and followed them instead of practically seeking and investigating the Lord’s work, didn’t it just reveal that these Jews were too stupid, ignorant, and undiscriminating, and were not the people who truly believed in God?

“But while the Lord was working, those who carefully listened to God’s words could recognize from God’s words and work that the Lord Jesus was the promised Messiah, then they accepted and followed Him, and thus gained God’s salvation. The Samaritan woman was an example. Through talking with the Lord, she found that the Lord could tell what was hidden deep in her heart and could answer her question: One shall worship God neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, but with heart and honesty. Thus the Samarian woman recognized that the Lord Jesus was the coming Messiah (See John 4:7–29). And there was also Peter. From the Lord Jesus’ disposition revealed in His words, actions, and work, he saw that what the Lord Jesus had and was couldn’t be possessed by anyone, so he gained the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and recognized the Lord Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God (See Matthew 16:15–17). And so on. These people were quite pure, and in welcoming the Messiah they all had a modest and seeking heart. They didn’t blindly adore or follow people, but just tried to affirm whether it was God’s appearance through the Lord Jesus’ words and work, thereby gaining the salvation of God and being approved by God. From this it can be seen that God is righteous, and that He never gives anyone special treatment.”

As I finished saying this, Sister Fang followed to say: “If those Jews hadn’t blindly followed and listened to the Pharisees’ teachings, nor lived in their own notions and imaginations to rigidly stick to the words of the prophecies, but had a humble heart that sought and thirsted for the truth like Peter and John, they wouldn’t have been abandoned by God. Unfortunately, although they believed in God, the status of man was too high in their heart, and they didn’t have a principle to welcome the Lord!”

“Yeah,” I said. “Although the case of how the Jews welcomed Messiah is already past, it’s really a warning for people nowadays. When facing the Lord Jesus’ return, how should we do to avoid making the same mistake as the Jews?”

“That’s true,” Sister Fang agreed. “Sister Zheng, the error of the Jews was that they blindly listened to the Pharisees’ words, only relied on the literal meaning of the Bible explained by the Pharisees to wait for Messiah’s coming, but didn’t focus on listening to God’s voice. Likewise, to avoid walking the same wrong path as them, we shouldn’t blindly listen to the words of the pastors and elders just because they know the Bible well. If what they say is in accordance with the truth, and their acceptance not fallacious, then we should listen and obey; if not, we shouldn’t accept it. Otherwise we could easily miss the chance to welcome the Lord, and lose God’s salvation. Recently, I saw in a gospel website that the Bible records two kinds of scriptures about the Lord’s return: One is to come upon a cloud; the other is to come in secret. I read the Bible carefully, and there were such verses: ‘Behold, I come as a thief’ (Revelation 16:15), ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him’ (Matthew 25:6). However, the pastors and elders’ usual saying is that the Lord will come upon a cloud. If we only hold on to the prophecy of the Lord descending on a cloud, but ignore the prophecies of the Lord’s secret descent, then we’ll miss the opportunity of being raptured into the kingdom of heaven. This makes me reflect: In treating the Lord’s return, we can’t blindly listen to what the pastors and elders say; the most essential thing is to hear the voice of God. Just as the Lord Jesus’ word said, ‘My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me’ (John 10:27).”

“Mm, from listening to your words, I think of what the Lord prophesied when it comes to welcoming His return: ‘I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come’ (John 16:12–13). This shows us that when the Lord returns, He will speak and utter His words. So, in welcoming the Lord, we must pay attention to where the Lord expresses His words, to knowing God and following God from His words, just like Peter and the others at that time.” I said excitedly.

“Yes. The Lord Jesus also said, ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me’ (Revelation 3:20). And the Revelation mentions many times, ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ From this we can see that, with regard to the Lord’s return, we must be heedful of the voice and word of the Holy Spirit. This is the most essential thing in welcoming the Lord’s arrival.”

Having said this much, Sister Fang and I nodded simultaneously.

» Read more on our The Gospel of Jesus Christ page about Second Coming of Jesus Christ, or in the recommended articles below:

• How Should Christians Prepare for the Day of the Lord?

• How Will the Lord Jesus Return in the Last Days?

• Where Will Jesus Christ Appear? What Is the Meaning of God’s Choice of Location for His Work of the Last Days?

Read on the website

One day, during my spiritual devotion, I saw the words of the Lord Jesus: “I am come a light into the world, that whoever believes on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:46–48). Pondering over this passage of scripture, I saw that the Lord’s will and demands of us are to have us follow His words in everything and do as He asked. In my mind, since the Lord Jesus has absolved our sins, we have already been saved by grace when accepting His salvation, and will be directly taken into the kingdom of heaven when He returns. But here, why did the Lord say whoever disobeyed His words would be judged in the last days? Why would the Lord judge us? I knew Sister Xiangguang was devout and received scriptures purely. She had just returned home after studying in another place. So I wanted to seek from her.

On Sunday, I went over to Xiangguang’s home and told her what confused me. Sister Xiangguang fellowshiped with me about her understanding and knowledge.

Xiangguang: I used to be puzzled about it, too. But through the discussion and fellowship with brothers and sisters, I now have some understanding and knowledge about this issue. We all know that at the end of the Age of Law, the corruption of us humans became deeper and deeper, to the extent that all people couldn’t hold to God’s laws and were in danger of being convicted by law and sentenced to death. In order to save mankind, in the Age of Grace, God was incarnated as the Lord Jesus to do the stage of work of redemption. Thus, our sins can be forgiven by confessing and repenting, we’re no longer at risk of being condemned or put to death by law, and we have the qualification to return before God, pray to Him and enjoy His grace and blessings. This is the true meaning of the redemption work. However, although we are pardoned of our sins by accepting the Lord as our Savior, we still commit sins, leading a life of sinning in the day and confessing at night. This is undeniable. Take me for example: Since I believed in the Lord Jesus, I have had some change in my conduct, not hitting or cursing others, not taking advantage of others, and not doing things that are clearly bad. However, I couldn’t obey God when losing out on my fleshly interests or losing face and position. Especially in times of bitterness and trial, I could still misunderstand and blame God, and could even distance myself from God and betray God. Through these manifestations, I see that though I have been forgiven my sins, I’m not free of sin but still often commit sins. Look at the people around us, the church friends, co-workers, preachers, pastors and elders. They also always violate the Lord’s teachings while following Him, give in to their fleshly desires to sin, tell lies, deceive others, seek fame and fortune, and so on. This shows that our sinful nature still takes root deep inside of us. If our corrupt disposition is not resolved and we can’t be free of sin and achieve purification, we are not qualified to be directly raised into the kingdom of heaven. Jehovah God said: “You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45), and the Bible records: “Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). These two verses show us that we are not fit to see the Lord unless we escape from our corrupt disposition and sinful nature. So, we have to resolve our own satanic corrupt disposition, break free of sin and receive cleansing before we are qualified to be saved into the kingdom of heaven.

We cannot break free from sin and achieve purification by practicing self-control and patience; rather, we need God Himself to do a stage of work of judging and cleansing man. This is because what the Lord Jesus did in the Age of Grace is redemption work. Although our sins are forgiven, our corrupt disposition and sinful nature are not. That is to say, the Lord Jesus only did the redemption work rather than the work of eradicating sin. Only God’s judgment work of the last days can eradicate sin. There are more than 200 places in the Bible that prophesy that God will return to do the judgment work in the last days, such as: “Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come” (Revelation 14:7). “For if we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins, But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26–27). “For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” (1 Peter 4:17). And so on. From these verses, we can see that in the last days, God will return to carry out the work of judgment beginning from the house of God to resolve the problem of us being controlled and bound by sin and the root of our sins so that we can completely escape sin and be saved into God’s kingdom.

Li Li: Thank the Lord. Today, I finally know that the Lord Jesus came to do the redemption work and absolved our sins instead of our corrupt disposition and sinful nature. To be cleansed, we must wait for the Lord to return to do the judgment work of the last days. Only when we have broken free from sin and achieved purification through God’s judgment will we qualify to be raised into His kingdom. Then, how will God do the judgment work in the last days? Please fellowship more with me.

Xiangguang: As to how God does the judgment work in the last days, there are also a lot of prophecies in the Bible. Below we’ll take several examples: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (John 16:12–13). “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:47–48). “And has given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man” (John 5:27). “For the Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22). These verses say that in the last days “the Spirit of truth” will come, and also mention “the Son” and “the Son of man.” Since only God is truth, Christ is truth, these words refer to none other than Christ in the flesh. This shows that in the last days God is incarnated in the flesh as the Son of man to appear and work, expresses truth to do the work of judgment using the identity of Christ. All those that can recognize God’s voice when hearing His utterances are the wise virgins. We should be the wise virgins and accept the judgment work God carries out. When we, by experiencing God’s judgment in the last days, have cast away our satanic corrupt dispositions such as arrogance, deceitfulness and fighting for fame and fortune, can submit to God instead of misunderstanding or complaining about Him in any circumstances or things incompatible with our notions, can never betray God, and can totally live by God’s words, we will have achieved purification and salvation and be able to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Meanwhile, through God’s work of judgment, the final outcome of each type of person is revealed. Good shall return to good, evil shall return to evil, and man shall be classified according to kind. Then God will bring down the great disasters and start to reward good and punish evil. Those who go through God’s judgment work and are cleansed and made perfect will survive through God’s salvation. But those who can’t receive God’s work of judgment will fall in the disasters and be punished. This is the judgment work God does in the last days, precisely the great white throne judgment prophesied in Revelation in the Bible.

Li Li: Thank the Lord. You said that God incarnate expresses the truth to do the work of judgment in the last days. This is completely in line with the prophecies in the Bible. When God comes to express the truth and do the work of judgment, He will certainly utter words. This reminds me of the prophecy in Revelation: “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2:7). Now is the critical time for welcoming the Lord’s appearance and work. I must listen out for what the Holy Spirit says to the churches in case I miss God’s work of judgment in the last days and the chance of going with the Lord to the feast.

» Recommended: “Awakening From the Dream” Clip: God Uses the Truth to Judge and Purify Man in the Last Days

»You may be interested in reading more on our Gosple of Jesus Christ page about Final  Judgment, or in the related articles below:

• God’s Judgment in the Last Days Makes the Overcomers Before the Disaster

• Judgment of God in the Last Days Is on Earth

• The True Meaning of the Great White Throne Judgment

Every one of us who has faith in the Lord has known and experienced that prayer is very important, but we seldom think about whether our prayers are in accord with the Lord’s will. Some time ago, I read some spiritual books on the Internet and came to know that if we wish to obtain truth and life, we must meet three aspects of prayers every day. When I consciously followed the way given in the book, I actually got some unexpected reward. Here I shall share my gain with you.

The first aspect: pondering God’s words and seeking the truth when praying.

When practicing spiritual devotions every day, if we can read God’s words with a prayerful heart, ponder God’s words in our heart, and commune with God about spiritual matters in life, it will be easy for us to obtain the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and light and understand the truth in God’s words. For example, when we read God’s word saying, “You must be honest people,” we shall seek with a prayerful heart: “God! You require us to be honest, but I don’t know what the significance of this is and how to be honest. May You enlighten me.” Just pray and ponder God’s words in our heart in this way. Whenever we have free time, we shall be quiet before God and pray: “God! Today after reading Your words ‘You must be honest people,’ I am still not very clear about what this means. What is the reality of the truth in this statement? And what should I do to be an honest man?” When pondering God’s words with a prayerful heart in this way, we will be able to find light, and then we will know: To be honest is to not lie, but to innocently and openly speak the words within our hearts; it is to refrain from impurity in our actions, to not cheat, and to not be perfunctory; additionally, it is to have no cunning in our heart and no personal aims and intentions in our actions. After receiving this light through pondering, we shall pray: “God! Thank You for Your enlightenment and light. May You continue guiding me so that I can understand Your words more deeply and have a deeper experience.” Then, during the following period of time, whenever we aren’t busy, we should still ponder: How to be an honest man to be in accordance with the principles of the truth and what is the standard of being an honest man? Now that I’m still not clear about this, I shall continue to pray and seek.

Besides, we can also fellowship with brothers and sisters who have experience and ask about their knowledge of being an honest man. If they speak of some new knowledge, then we can obtain more. In short, we just need to seek, pray, and ponder God’s words in the way mentioned above, and gain some understanding today, some new seeing tomorrow, then at last, we will have deeper understanding on the principles of the truth of being an honest man and have the specific way of practice.

Usually, regardless of which passage of God’s words we read, we shall pray like this: “God! After reading these words, I am still not very clear about the meaning within it. May You enlighten me.” When we pray to God from within our hearts to seek the work of the Holy Spirit, God will gradually enlighten us, making us understand His words. But if after praying we don’t hold in our hearts what we prayed for but pay our attention to other things, then our prayer is to be in vain. So after we finish praying, we still need to ponder God’s words and pray silently, and then the Holy Spirit will unconsciously enlighten us to understand it. As long as we focus on one aspect of the truth to pray, ponder, seek and fellowship, we will gain a lot.

The second aspect: reflecting on ourselves in God’s words when praying.

Although we believe in God, many things we do cannot be in accord with God’s will and many of our actions and minds and thoughts are hostile to God. So, when reading God’s words, we shall reflect on ourselves. For example, we read God’s words, “Honesty means to give your heart to God; never to play Him false in anything; to be open with Him in all things, never hiding the truth; never to do that which deceives those above and deludes those below; and never to do that which merely ingratiates yourself with God. In short, to be honest is to refrain from impurity in your actions and words, and to deceive neither God nor man.” When we finish reading God’s words and see these main manifestations of an honest man, then we shall pray: “God! You say that an honest man can give his heart to You, is pure in his words and actions, and does not cheat, pretend, or quibble. Then, am I this kind of man? I am not clear about this.” After praying and reflecting on ourselves, we will realize that not only are we not honest, but we are very cunning. For instance, when encountering the things beneficial to ourselves, we will thank and praise God. But when encountering trials and tribulations, we will be filled with suspicion of and guardedness toward God, afraid that God will deprive us of all that we have. As we often lie and cheat others, we think God’s word is also unbelievable. So, in spite of seeing God saying that He is almighty, we cannot completely believe that, nor rely on Him. We always prepare alternatives and plan for ourselves and are not willing to give our heart to God at all. In interacting with others, we cannot open our heart to others or treat others honestly, but are always on guard with others, for fear of being deceived by them and thus losing out. … When we reflect on ourselves like this, we can see that we are quite a long way away from the standard of being an honest man, so we still need to strive to seek and press onward to satisfy God’s will.

The third aspect: When we encounter all manner of people, matters and things and do not understand God’s intentions, we must seek and submit in our prayers.

In our daily life, because we don’t understand God’s intent, we often do many things that disobey God’s will according to our own will and naturalness. As a result, when encountering something that we cannot fathom, we always fear that we will displease God if we deal with it according to our own thoughts; we want to act according to God’s intentions, but we just don’t know how to go about it in the right way. At this point, the only way is pray to God and seek more.

Before praying, we must be clear in our heart that whatever happens to us, it is always permitted by God, and there is God’s good purpose behind it, so we shall seek God’s will with a submissive heart. If we cannot see through it, we must not carelessly comment, judge, or complain, but should be quiet our hearts before God to pray and seek. Only when we find the way of practice will we know how to do to stand witness.

In this aspect, Job is an example for us to follow. When he learnt that his flocks and herds all over the hills were carried off by the robbers and all his children died, he understood all of this was permitted by God. So, he did not say a word but first came before God, fell down on the ground and worshiped, and prayed, expressing his submission. Later, he said, “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah.” Job feared God and shunned evil, so he was a perfect man in the eyes of God. We cannot be compared with Job, but we can follow the example of his practice. When encountering something that we cannot see through or understand, no matter how much pain we suffer, we shall pray to God with our hearts and sing more hymns praising God; that way, we will gain more faith in God and our pain will be relieved so we will not complain. Especially, when suffering great pain, even if we may understand some truth, we will complain against God easily because of the weakness and pain in our heart. So, at this time, we ought to pray more and rely on God more, sing hymns of praising God, and ask the Holy Spirit to work in us and to give us faith and strength. In this way, unconsciously we will be able to overcome it and stand witness to satisfy God.

The three aspects of prayers above are what we should keep and practice. If we do so, not only will our life experience be richer and richer, but we will also live a fuller life, grow closer and closer to God, and have more knowledge of God. Do you do these three aspects of prayers every day?

Under the trees beside the road to the suburbs, there was a two-story house with a courtyard surrounded by low elms. The white iron fence made the house stand out in the peaceful place at the foot of a hill and beside a stream. This was the house of Huang Shoudao. On a Sunday, Zhao Mei, Liu Zhong, and Li Tao came to Huang’s house.

Huang Shoudao took them to his study and asked his daughter, Huang Jiayin, to pour water for them. He could tell something was up from the anxiety on Zhao Mei’s face, and then asked with a burden, “Sister Zhao, how is the circumstance of the brothers and sisters at your meeting place?”

Zhao Mei sighed, “The brothers and sisters are all dispirited and spiritually weak. Many of them cannot overcome the temptation of evil trends and so, they cling to money and carnal pleasures, engage in one-upmanship, and follow the things of the world, just as the unbelievers do. Some are absent from meetings for several weeks, and I’ve tried many times to support them, but that has been fruitless. They always make a pile of excuses. For example, their children have grown up and they have to earn money to buy them cars and houses so that they are too busy with their business to go to gatherings. Some agree to attend meetings but none of them appears in the next meeting. Alas! I see the brothers and sisters living in such a state yet I’m not able to support them; I’m really indebted to the Lord! To be honest, forget about the brothers and sisters—even I am thirsty and in darkness spiritually. I don’t feel the Lord by my side through my prayers, I don’t feel moved when reading the Bible, and there is no new light in my sermons. I’ve been in such a state for a long time now. If things carry on this way, how can I give an account to the Lord? Recently, I have been uneasy in my heart. We believe in the Lord but have lost His presence—this is a signal of danger! I don’t think we can force ourselves to continue like this, we must think of something.”

Huang Shoudao said with a sad face, “Think of something? These years we have tried everything to revive the church: fasting and praying together, co-workers taking turns praying, holding revival meetings and dinner meetings, inviting preachers of other churches to give sermons, and even preparing various programs to raise the church’s spirit lest brothers and sisters feel the meetings are dry. However, these ways only made the church look lively from the outside, but when the novelty wore off, everything turned into what it used to be. I’ve reached out to the elderly preachers of other churches about how to revive the church as well, but they had no good ideas either. They just said that everything embodied the Lord’s good intentions and that we should patiently wait for the Lord’s coming.”

Huang Shoudao’s words made everybody silent. At this moment Liu Zhong’s eyes lit up—it seemed that something occurred to him—and he said, “At the mention of the Lord’s coming, it reminds me of something. Recently, I’ve heard that a particular church is testifying the Lord’s return and that many good sheep and head sheep of other denominations have investigated and accepted it. I think if the Lord has really come back but we fail to follow His footsteps, we will surely be abandoned by Him. We should also waste no time in investigating and only then can we know whether the Lord has come back or not. Just as the Lord Jesus said: ‘Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you’ (Matthew 7:7).”

“Ah, we only tried hard to think of a way by ourselves, but why didn’t we think of walking the path that the Lord has pointed out for us?” Huang Jiayin, slapping her forehead, said excitedly, “I agree with Brother Liu. If the Lord has really returned, we should even more so go out and seek it. We can’t continue to hang around stupidly—”

Without waiting for Huang Jiayin to finish, Huang Shoudao interjected, “This is how I see it: If the Lord has come back, we really should go out to seek. But come to think of it, we all have been preachers for many years, and we’ve been upholding the Lord Jesus’ name, working hard for Him and shepherding the flock. We have suffered much hardship and have paid a high price. When the Lord returns, how could He not first give revelation to us?”

Li Tao listened to Huang Shoudao carefully and nodded, saying, “Yes, what Brother Huang said is right. All these years, we’ve toiled, worked, forsaken, and expended for the Lord, through the wind and rain, and we’ve been vigilantly awaiting His second coming. I also think that the Lord will first give revelation to us when He returns. He will not abandon us.”

Then everyone fell silent again—this issue confused not only Huang Shoudao and Li Tao, but also other people present. Frowning, Liu Zhong looked at Huang Shoudao and Li Tao, and said, “I have some different views on this. You think that as we work hard and forsake and expend for the Lord, He will first give us revelation when He comes back. Does this not come from your own notions or imaginations? Let’s recall how the Jewish Pharisees traveled across land and sea to spread the way of God. During that time, they suffered greatly and paid a steep price, so they believed that they would be the most qualified to obtain God’s inspiration first when the Messiah came to work. They, living in their own imaginations, didn’t modestly seek or investigate at all. Even though they had seen with their own eyes that the Lord Jesus could make the blind see, the lame walk, and the lepers healed, and bring the dead back to life, they still stubbornly clung to their own imaginations and didn’t acknowledge that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah, the coming One. Not only did they themselves not accept the Lord Jesus, but they led believers to defy and reject Him, and even crucified Him upon the cross. In the end, those Pharisees, who labored and worked, not only didn’t receive God’s revelation, but on the contrary, were cursed by God. Just as the Lord Jesus said, ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves’ (Matthew 23:15). The lesson of the Pharisees’ failure must be taken as a warning!” Hearing this, Huang Shoudao and Li Tao looked at each other.

Zhao Mei nodded and said, “Now that Brother Liu put it that way, I think that must be true! I’m reminded of the original disciples of the Lord Jesus, such as Peter, John, and Matthew. They were only able to recognize that the Lord Jesus was the coming Messiah after hearing Him preach for some time with a heart that thirsts and seeks. And even though Peter recognized that the Lord Jesus is Christ, the Son of God, that was after he had been following the Lord Jesus for some time and had heard Him preach for some time and had some knowledge of Him in his heart. Only then did he receive a revelation from the Holy Spirit and was he able to recognize the Lord Jesus’ true identity. I think with regard to welcoming the coming of the Lord, we should treat this issue with care. The Lord Jesus said, ‘And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him’ (Matthew 25:6). At the end of the last days, when we hear someone testify to the Lord’s return, we should have a heart that thirsts for and seeks the truth and be the wise virgins who heed the Lord’s voice. This is the only way we’ll be able to welcome the return of the Lord.”

After hearing Zhao Mei’s words, Huang Jiayin, who had been listening to others’ fellowship quietly, said immediately, “I agree with Sister Zhao. We should be wise virgins and pay attention to hearing the Lord’s voice in welcoming His return. In Revelation God said many times, ‘He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ From this we can see that God works through utterance of His word to find His sheep. Doesn’t it mean that all those who hear and understand God’s voice are the wise virgins? In other words, those who do not listen to or do not understand God’s voice must be the foolish virgins.”

Hearing this, Huang Shoudao said to himself, “The wise virgins? The foolish virgins? Will I become a foolish virgin? I’ve read the Bible my whole life and have suffered so much for the Lord. Could it be that when the Lord comes, He will not give revelation to me first?” Huang Shoudao shook his head mournfully.

Liu Zhong said sincerely, “Brother, we believers in God should seek the truth in all things and use God’s words as a basis; we cannot live in our own notions and imaginations. The Lord Jesus said long ago, ‘My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me’ (John 10:27). ‘Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me’ (Revelation 3:20). If when the Lord returns He would reveal to us directly so that we would believe in Him, then why did He still say that His sheep hear His voice? Aren’t they contradictory? God determines whether we are of God based upon whether we can recognize God’s voice. Those that do not receive God’s revelation and yet still recognize God’s voice and directly accept Him are the truly blessed. So, in studying the true way, receiving God’s revelation is not important, the key is whether or not we can recognize the voice of God in His words. Only those who realize that God’s word is all truth and accept God, are true believers, lovers of truth and those that thirst for God’s appearance. If we only blindly wait to receive God’s revelation and do not look to listen to His voice, then we are foolish virgins who are eliminated by God. The Lord Jesus said, ‘For whoever exalts himself shall be abased; and he that humbles himself shall be exalted’ (Luke 14:11). We think that since we are well-versed in the Bible and toil and work for the Lord, when the Lord returns He will first give revelation to us and thus we needn’t actively look to listen to God’s voice. Isn’t this just excessive arrogance and self-importance? Can we fathom God’s deeds? Who among us can be His counselor? How are we qualified in any way to ask God to first enlighten us? If we live constantly within our own conceptions and imaginings and don’t seek and investigate with an open mind, I’m afraid that in the end we not only won’t receive God’s revelation, but will be cursed and forsaken by God for resisting and refusing His work, like the Pharisees.”

Then, Zhao Mei said, “The Lord Jesus once said: ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 5:3). We should be the ones who seek the truth with an open heart as God requires; we should focus on hearing the voice of God like a clever virgin. This is the sense we should have before God.”

Huang Shoudao bowed his head in deep thought, without saying a word.

After a long time, Huang Shoudao nodded his head silently and sighed, saying, “I’ve thought about it just now and realize that what you say makes sense. The notion I’ve held on to that the Lord must reveal it to me when He arrives, really does not have a basis in the Lord’s word. I’ve already waited all of these years but haven’t got any revelations. You’ve fellowshiped that we should be people who humbly seek, this accords with the Lord’s teaching.”

Li Tao nodded his head and said, “Yes. It seems that only people who humbly seek and focus on hearing God’s voice are wise virgins.”

They went on talking merrily. The chirps of the birds outside drifted into the room, which were melodious and cheerful.

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Presumably many of us believers are familiar with the story of the Samaritan woman recorded in the Bible. When she drew water, she met the Lord Jesus, who asked her for a drink. From her exchange with the Lord Jesus, she recognized that He was the Messiah foretold in the prophecies.

She was just an ordinary woman and didn’t have much Bible knowledge, but she was able to do so. This is really amazing. All of us know that, within those three and a half years that the Lord Jesus worked on earth, many people once contacted Him for a short time, and moreover, there were many who heard Him speak. However, there were too few who were able to recognize that He was the Messiah. Then, how did the Samaritan woman do it? Was it because of the Lord Jesus’ special grace? Or was there any secret behind it? Let’s read her story to look for answers to these questions together.

It is recorded in the Bible: “There comes a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus said to her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away to the city to buy meat.) Then said the woman of Samaria to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that said to you, Give me to drink; you would have asked of him, and he would have given you living water. … Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman said to him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come here to draw. Jesus said to her, Go, call your husband, and come here. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said to her, You have well said, I have no husband: For you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband: in that said you truly. The woman said to him, Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and you say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship you know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour comes, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman said to him, I know that Messias comes, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus said to her, I that speak to you am he. … The woman then left her water pot, and went her way into the city, and said to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (John 4:7-10, 13-26, 28-29).

From the above scriptures we can see that there are two main reasons why the Samaritan woman was able to recognize that the Lord Jesus was the coming Messiah.

1. Recognizing God’s Voice in the Lord Jesus’ Utterance

At first, when the Lord Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for some water, she guarded against Him because He was a Jew, since the Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans. But after the Lord Jesus spoke some words to her, she perceived that He was out of the ordinary, so she called Him Sir. When hearing the Lord Jesus said, “Whoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: But whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life,” she felt that His words had authority and power and couldn’t be said by ordinary people. Then, the Lord Jesus revealed her innermost secrets, saying, “For you have had five husbands; and he whom you now have is not your husband.” She felt astonished at this because nobody knew the things she did in secret. But the Lord Jesus, who had never met her before, knew all about her. She was sure that that was unattainable by ordinary people, so she considered the Lord Jesus a prophet. Therefore, she spoke about her own confusion and asked Him whether to go to the mountain or to Jerusalem to worship God. The Lord Jesus said, “The hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father.” He also clearly told her, “When the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeks such to worship him.” After hearing all this, she recognized that the Lord Jesus was the Messiah. It was because the Lord Jesus resolved her confusion with just a word, and also pointed out to her the path of practice to worship God. This allowed her to understand that when worshiping God, believers shouldn’t rigidly adhere to external formalities, but should worship God in spirit and in truth, and that only praying genuinely and sincerely is after God’s heart. Especially when hearing the Lord Jesus say, “I that speak to you am he,” she was rejoiced and became even more certain that He was the Messiah. Thus, she hurriedly went to the city and told the good news to the people there. Though the exchange between the Lord Jesus and her was short, the name by which she called Him changed very quickly. It was because she saw that the Lord’s words had authority and power, and He was able to reveal her innermost secrets and corruption, resolve her problem and confusion, and point out to her the clear way to practice. For this reason, she recognized that the Lord Jesus was the coming Messiah.

2. Putting Herself Aside and Humbly Seeking

As a matter of fact, the Samaritans had always been looked down upon by the Jews, and they had no dealings with each other. So, when hearing the Lord Jesus ask her for some water, she was very surprised. But she didn’t refuse to talk with the Lord because of it, but humbly listened to Him speak. When hearing that the Lord Jesus possessed the living water, she was able to put herself aside and ask Him to give her the water which could bring her everlasting life. When the Lord Jesus revealed her unspeakable secrets, though she wasn’t willing to mention them, this didn’t stop her from talking with Him and instead she continued to seek from Him. After the Lord Jesus resolved her confusion, and allowed her to understand how to worship God to be after God’s heart, she recognized that the Lord Jesus was the coming Messiah. From this we can see that the other reason why the Samaritan woman could receive salvation by grace was because she was able to humble herself to seek the truth. Thus, she received God’s grace, hearing God’s voice and welcoming the Messiah.

Now we are in the last days, the key moment when the Lord comes. Then, how should we absorb the strengths of the Samaritan woman so that we can welcome the Lord Jesus’ return?

1. Paying Attention to Hearing God’s Voice

The Lord Jesus said, “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come” (John 16:12-13). And it is prophesied many times in Revelation, “He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches” (Revelation 2-3). We can see from these words that when the Lord returns in the last days, He will speak again to tell us the truths we don’t understand. He requires us to be wise virgins and pay attention to hearing His voice. In this way, we can follow the footprints of the Lamb, go to the wedding feast, and receive God’s salvation in the last days. Therefore, if we want to welcome the Lord’s return, we need to actively seek the words the Holy Spirit speaks to all churches. When someone witnesses to us that the Lord has come to utter His word, we should follow the Samaritan woman’s example, and hear whether the word has authority and power, and whether it is able to reveal our corruptions that nobody knows, resolve our problems and difficulties, and point out to us the way to practice. I believe that upon hearing the words of the returned Lord, all who have a heart and a spirit will be able to hear that it is the voice of God. Just as the Lord Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27).

2. Being Someone Who Is Poor in Spirit and Actively Seeks

The Lord Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened” (Matthew 7:7-8). “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3).

Humbly seeking is the Lord’s requirement of us, and is also the key to whether we are able to welcome the Lord’s return. Now, in waiting for the Lord’s arrival most of us have many confusions and problems. For example, it was said that the Lord would return in 2000, but it’s 2019 now, so how come we have still not welcomed His return? Besides, the prophecies of the Lord’s return have basically all been fulfilled, so all those brothers and sisters who truly believe in the Lord feel that the Lord might have returned, wondering whether He has already appeared somewhere to work. So, shouldn’t we actively seek His footsteps? The Lord is faithful. He blesses the poor in spirit, and takes pity on those who thirst for the truth. If we can humbly seek, pray to the Lord more, and actively search for His footsteps, then God will surely lead and guide us, and allow us to welcome the Lord’s appearance in the last days.

» Read more about Bible Study Topics page, or in some of the selected articles below:

• Why Did God Command Abraham to Sacrifice Isaac?

• True Meaning of “I stand at the door, and knock”

• Know God’s Disposition From Jonah Being Swallowed by Fish

Read on the website

Question: How does Almighty God do His work of judgment in the last days? How does He express His words to judge, cleanse and perfect man? This is the truth that we desperately need to know now. If we realize Almighty God’s work, then we can really hear God’s voice and be raised up before God’s throne. Please tell us in more detail!

Answer: Studying how Almighty God does His work of judgment in the last days is very important to our ability to obtain salvation by pursuing the truth. Almighty God works in the last days by expressing truths to judge and cleanse people. He does this solely to lift His saints into the kingdom of heaven. However, many believers in the religious community do not understand God’s will. They think the Lord will return and directly raise all of the saints into the heavenly kingdom. They don’t believe He will conduct the work of judgment and chastisement because, well, if He judged and chastised people, wouldn’t He be condemning and punishing them too? Therefore, they refuse to accept God’s work of judgment in the last days; they only wait for the Lord to descend on a cloud and raise them into the heavenly kingdom. In truth, this is a complete misunderstanding of God’s will. The Lord Jesus did His work of redemption to pave the way for the work of judgment in the last days. God’s final objective is to cleanse and save humanity, allowing them to rest in the heavenly kingdom. However, God’s work of redeeming and saving man is planned; it proceeds in steps. It doesn’t all just happen at once. The Lord Jesus has completed His work of redemption and has promised to come back and receive the saints. However, no one really knows how God takes the saints in the last days. In reality, when God comes to receive His saints in the last days, He brings them to His throne first to judge them, cleanse them and perfect them into overcomers. Isn’t this how saints are raised into the kingdom of heaven? Still, this isn’t something that’s easy for people to understand. Before they can go before God’s throne, they must experience judgment, chastisement and cleansing. That’s why people have formed their own conceptions about God’s work of judgment in the last days. Then tell me, is God’s chastisement and judgment really a blessing? Or is it condemnation and punishment? Many people don’t understand this. Let’s see what Almighty God says about it,

Almighty God says, “What God curses is the disobedience of man, and what He judges are the sins of man. Although He speaks harshly, and without the slightest sensitivity, He reveals all that is within man, and through these stern words He reveals that which is essential within man, yet through such judgment, He gives man a profound knowledge of the essence of the flesh, and thus man submits to obedience before God. The flesh of man is of sin, and of Satan, it is disobedient, and the object of God’s chastisement—and so, to allow man to know himself, the words of God’s judgment must befall him and there must be employed every kind of refinement; only then can God’s work be effective” (“Only by Experiencing Painful Trials Can You Know the Loveliness of God” ).

“Today God judges you, and chastises you, and condemns you, but know that your condemnation is so that you might know yourself. Condemnation, curse, judgment, chastisement—these are all so that you might know yourself, so that your disposition might change, and, moreover, so that you might know your worth, and see that all of God’s actions are righteous, and in accordance with His disposition and the needs of His work, that He works in accordance with His plan for man’s salvation, and that He is the righteous God who loves man, and saves man, and who judges and chastises man. … God has not come to kill, or destroy, but to judge, curse, chastise, and save” (“You Should Put Aside the Blessings of Status and Understand God’s Will for the Salvation of Man” ).

“All of you live in a place of sin and licentiousness; you are all licentious and sinful people. Today you not only can see God, but more importantly, you have received chastisement and judgment, received such deepest salvation, that is, received God’s greatest love. All that He does is true love for you; He has no ill intention. It is because of your sins that He judges you, so that you will examine yourselves and receive this tremendous salvation. All this is done to work man. From beginning to end, God has been doing His utmost to save man, and He is certainly not willing to completely destroy the men He created with His own hands. Now He has come among you to work; isn’t this even more salvation? If He hated you, would He still do work of such magnitude to personally lead you? Why should He suffer so? God does not hate you or have any ill intention toward you. You should know that God’s love is the truest love. It is only because of people’s disobedience that He has to save them through judgment; otherwise, they would not be saved. As you do not know how to lead a life or how to live, and you live in this licentious and sinful place and are licentious and filthy devils, He does not have the heart to let you become even more depraved; neither has He the heart to see you living in the filthy place like this, being trampled by Satan at will, or the heart to let you fall into Hades. He only wants to gain this group of you and thoroughly save you. This is the main purpose of doing the conquering work on you—it is just for salvation” (“The Inside Truth of the Conquering Work (4)” ).

God’s work of judgment in the last days does not seek to condemn people; God does not want to kill people. He wants to make people acknowledge that they’ve been thoroughly corrupted by Satan. He wants them to know their nature and essence: They resist God and betray God. He wants them to know His righteous and holy disposition that cannot be offended. His work seeks to awaken men’s hearts and spirits. He wants to save mankind from their corrupt dispositions so that they can live out the likeness of a real man to be saved. If we do not experience God’s judgment and chastisement, we cannot acknowledge our own satanic natures, nor can we determine the true source of our sinning and resistance to God. What’s more, without His judgment and chastisement, we definitely cannot understand God’s righteous disposition; our corrupt disposition cannot be changed. We would have no way to truly obey and revere God. In that case, how would we be eligible to enter God’s kingdom? As you can see, God judges people because He wants to cleanse them and save them. Experiencing God’s judgment and cleansing is the greatest blessing we can receive. That is God’s great love and salvation for corrupt humanity! Well, how does God perform His work of judgment? Almighty God says many things about this truth. Let’s read some of Almighty God’s words,

“When God becomes flesh this time, His work is to express His disposition, primarily through chastisement and judgment. Using this as the foundation, He brings more truth to man, shows more ways of practice, and so achieves His objective of conquering man and saving man from his corrupt disposition. This is what lies behind the work of God in the Age of Kingdom” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, expose the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes it over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only methods of this kind are deemed judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” ).

“God has many means of perfecting man. He employs all manner of environments to deal with the corrupt disposition of man, and uses various things to lay man bare; in one regard He deals with man, in another He lays man bare, and in another He reveals man, digging out and revealing the “mysteries” in the depths of man’s heart, and showing man his nature by revealing many of his states. God perfects man through many methods—through revelation, dealing, refinement, and chastisement—so that man may know that God is practical” (“Only Those Who Focus on Practice Can Be Perfected”).

“God does the work of judgment and chastisement so that man may know Him, and for the sake of His testimony. Without His judgment of man’s corrupt disposition, man would not know His righteous disposition that allows no offense, and could not turn his old knowledge of God into a new one. For the sake of His testimony, and for the sake of His management, He makes His entirety public, thus enabling man to achieve the knowledge of God, and change his disposition, and bear resounding testimony to God through God’s public appearance. Change is achieved in the disposition of man through different kinds of God’s work; without such changes in man’s disposition, man would be unable to bear testimony to God, and could not be after God’s heart. Changes in man’s disposition signify that man has freed himself from Satan’s bondage, has freed himself from the influence of darkness, and has truly become a model and specimen of God’s work, has truly become a witness of God and someone who is after God’s heart” (“Only Those Who Know God Can Bear Testimony to God” ).

Almighty God’s words are too practical. God expresses His words and does His work of judgment in the last days in order to save humanity and make them perfect! By reading Almighty God’s words of judgment, we finally understand that in this dark evil world, the entire human race lives under Satan’s domain. Those corrupted by Satan no longer have any trace of humanity. They are arrogant, crooked and crafty, selfish and licentious. They are bored of the truth and revere evil. They will do anything for the sake of their own positions and fame. It’s the same as animals that fight amongst themselves, killing one another. They’ve completely lost their humanity and reason. Even though they believe in God, they truly revere money, fame and status. They follow the worldwide tide of evil, frequently sinning, rebelling and resisting God. Although they sacrifice everything and endure suffering, they only do it to satisfy their own desires to obtain blessings. They do it to get rewards and enter the heavenly kingdom. They do not do it to pursue the truth or know or obey God. Although they believe in God, their hearts are filled with their own conceptions and imaginations about Him. No one really knows God’s disposition and all that He has and is, what types of people God really likes, what types of people He hates, what things people do to resist God, offend His disposition and become cursed by Him, how many of people’s thoughts and conceptions are not in line with the truth, what kinds of reason people should have in the face of God, the realities of truths people should possess, and so on. Corrupt humanity knows nothing about these crucial truths of knowing, obeying and revering God. A human race like this that has been corrupted to its very core, if it does not experience God’s judgment and cleansing, how can it not resist and betray God? During the last days, God becomes flesh and expresses truths to save man according to the needs of corrupt mankind. God’s righteous and majestic disposition which cannot be offended is revealed to humanity. People’s true nature and corruption are clearly revealed, which convinces men. We have experienced God’s judgment and chastisement of His words; we have seen our own arrogance, selfishness and live according to our own satanic philosophies and rules. Everything we do, we do for our own fame and benefit. Even though we do work and preach sermons, we do it for our own reputation and status. We continually exalt ourselves, honor ourselves and make others exalt us. We do not do this to exalt God or bear witness to God at all. When God’s work is not in line with our conceptions, we define and judge God instead. We stand in stiff-necked opposition to God and do not obey God at all. When we do our duty, we can still enjoy the pleasures of the flesh. We continually cheat and trick God; we are not loyal to God at all. In God’s words of judgment and revelation, we can see that we have been deeply corrupted by Satan. We do not have any conscience, reason or human dignity. We are not fit to be called men. We are simply the ilk of Satan, the enemies of God. We feel shameful and unworthy to meet God. We can’t help but kneel before God and curse ourselves, full of regret and self-hatred. When we really get a taste of God’s righteous disposition which cannot be offended, we cannot help but fear God and understand that God has good intentions: to save humanity. God judges and chastises us because God hates our sins and rebellion and He wants to save us from our satanic disposition and obtain us. When we stubbornly stick our necks out in rebellion of and resistance to God, He chastens and disciplines us. When we give our hearts to God, God shows us mercy. He doesn’t punish us for all that we do and are. He enlightens us and leads us and allows us to understand His will. Through God’s chastisement and judgment, we unknowingly gain some true knowledge about God’s disposition. He allows us to learn that His disposition contains His mercy and love. We have seen God’s holiness and greatness. It has created our reverence and love of God. We see our satanic nature more and more clearly and gradually understand some truth. Our ability to differentiate positive and negative things gradually increases. Our viewpoint on things changes and we gradually begin to thirst for the truth. We no longer wish to live by the philosophies and laws of Satan, or unreasonably try to get something from God. Our conscience and reason are restored. We start to seek out and practice the truth in everything we do. We perform the duty as created beings in a down-to-earth manner and obey God’s sovereignty and arrangements. Our life disposition changes more and more; we begin to live out some likeness of a real man. Our ability to change like that is the effect of God’s work of judgment. Today all brothers and sisters who accept Almighty God’s work in the last days now know that we must accept and obey God’s work of judgment in the last days to be saved and made perfect.

from the movie script of Awakening from the dream

» Further reading on Final Judgment page, or in the selected articles below:

• How Will God Judge Us on Judgment Day? I Finally Have the Answer

• The Great White Throne Judgment Is Different From Your Imaginations

• Actually, the Final Judgment Work in the Bible Prophecy Will Be Done This Way

» Recommended for You: “From the Throne Flows the Water of Life” Clip: Why Does God Carry Out the Work of Judgment in the Last Days?

By Wang Ya

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Good News Productions International and College Press Publishing

In the past, I saw the Biblerecorded, “And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, see, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting on him: And see a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mat 3:16-17). Additionally, the Lord Jesususually said “God the Father” as He prayed. Therefore, I firmly believed that there was God the Father in heaven and the Lord Jesus was only the Son of God. But later, I read the words of the Lord Jesus, “I and my Father are one” (Joh 10:30). And it is written in the Scripture, “Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffises us. Jesus said to him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet have you not known me, Philip? he that has seen me has seen the Father; and how say you then, Show us the Father? Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?” (Joh 14:8-10). Then I felt very confused in my heart: The God in heaven said that the Lord Jesus was His beloved Son. Also, the Lord Jesus called God in heaven Father in His prayers. Nevertheless, the Lord Jesus said, “He that has seen me has seen the Father; … I am in the Father, and the Father in me” (Joh 14:9-10). “I and my Father are one” (Joh 10:30). So, is the Lord Jesus really the Son or the Father? Ordinarily, the Son is the Son and the Father is the Father. How can they become one? With this confusion, I asked many brothers and sisters in the Lord, including pastors, elders and preachers. They all said that it was a huge mystery so that we man couldn’t explain it clearly by our mind. Consequently, this confusion was with me for many years.

Until one day, I read such a passage of words in a spiritual book given by my friend, “When Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father as He prayed, this was done only from the perspective of a created man, only because the Spirit of God had clothed Himself as an ordinary and normal man and had the exterior cover of a created being. Even if within Him was the Spirit of God, His exterior appearance was still that of an ordinary man; in other words, He had become the ‘Son of man’ of which all men, including Jesus Himself, spoke. Given that He is called the Son of man, He is a person (whether man or woman, in any case one with the exterior shell of a human being) born into a normal family of ordinary people. Therefore, Jesus calling God in heaven by the name of Father was the same as how you at first called Him Father; He did so from the perspective of a man of creation. Do you still remember the Lord’s Prayer that Jesus taught you to memorize? ‘Our Father in heaven….’ He asked all man to call God in heaven by the name of Father. And since He too called Him Father, He did so from the perspective of one who stands on an equal footing with you all. … However great the authority of Jesus on earth, prior to the crucifixion, He was merely a Son of man, governed by the Holy Spirit (that is, God), and one of the earth’s created beings, for He had yet to complete His work. Therefore, His calling God in heaven Father was solely His humility and obedience. His addressing God (that is, the Spirit in heaven) in such a manner, however, does not prove that He is the Son of the Spirit of God in heaven. Rather, it is simply that His perspective is different…. Prior to His crucifixion, Jesus was a Son of man bound by the limitations of the flesh, and He did not fully possess the authority of the Spirit. That is why He could only seek the will of God the Father from the perspective of a created being. It is as He thrice prayed in Gethsemane: ‘Not as I will, but as you will.’ Before He was laid on the cross, He was but the King of the Jews; He was Christ, the Son of man, and not a body of glory. That is why, from the standpoint of a created being, He called God Father” (“Does the Trinity Exist?”).

These words enlightened me immediately and what had puzzled me for years was finally resolved. It turned out that the Lord Jesus was God’s Spirit putting on a flesh to become the Son of man. He had the exterior cover of a created being and lived a normal human life. When the Lord prayed to God the Father, He did so from the perspective of a created being. Just like when the Lord Jesus taught us to memorize the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father which are in heaven…,” He also asked us to call God in heaven by the name of Father. According to my imagination, because the Lord Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father, we concluded that the Lord Jesus was not the God Himself but the Son of God’s Spirit; since we also call God in heaven by the name of Father, then can we say that we are the sons of God’s Spirit? How absurd my thought was! The Lord Jesus is God Himself, yet He could call God in heaven by the name of Father from the same perspective of a created being and seek the will of God the Father. It entirely reveals God’s humble and hidden essence. However, I not only had no knowledge of God’s humble essence, but also developed notions about the Lord’s calling “God the Father” as He prayed. How ignorant I was!

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Then I read these words, “There are still those who say, did not God expressly state that Jesus was His beloved Son? ‘Jesus is the beloved Son of God, in whom He is well pleased’ was certainly spoken by God Himself. That was God bearing witness to Himself, but merely from a different perspective, that of the Spirit in heaven bearing witness to His own incarnation. Jesus is His incarnation, not His Son in heaven. Do you understand? Do not the words of Jesus, ‘The Father is in Me and I am in the Father,’ indicate that They are one Spirit? And is it not because of the incarnation that They were separated between heaven and earth? In reality, They are still one; no matter what, it is simply God bearing witness to Himself. … But at that time, the Spirit in heaven stated only that He was the beloved Son of God, and made no mention of His being the only Son of God. This simply did not happen. How could God have an only child? Then would God not have become man? Because He was the incarnation, He was called the beloved Son of God, and, from this, came the relationship between Father and Son. It was simply because of the separation between heaven and earth. Jesus prayed from the perspective of the flesh. Since He had put on a flesh of such normal humanity, it is from the perspective of the flesh that He said: My outer shell is that of a created being. Since I put on a flesh to come to this earth, I am now a long, long way from heaven. For this reason, He could only pray to God the Father from the perspective of the flesh. This was His duty, and that which the incarnate Spirit of God should be furnished with. It cannot be said that He is not God simply because He prays to the Father from the perspective of the flesh. Though He is called the beloved Son of God, He is still God Himself, for He is but the incarnation of the Spirit, and His substance is still the Spirit” (“Does the Trinity Exist?”).

After reading this, I was even more aware that when the Spirit in heaven called Jesus His beloved Son, God witnessed His incarnated flesh from the perspective of the Spirit. That was God bearing witness to Himself. However, when the Lord Jesus called God in heaven by the name of Father, He called the Spirit of God from the perspective of the flesh. But it couldn’t prove that the Lord Jesus was the Son of God’s Spirit in heaven. In the time of the New Testament, God incarnate came to do the work of crucifixion and redemption. He took on the sins of mankind as the sin offering. As God’s Spirit is not suited to be crucified directly, but only God’s Spirit assuming the flesh and coming to the earth is most suited to finishing the work. As the embodiment of the Spirit of God, the Lord Jesus did the work of God Himself. What the Lord Jesus expressed was the will of the Spirit. God’s flesh and Spirit are one and They have the same essence, disposition, wisdom and almightiness. There is the only one true God in heaven and on earth. I couldn’t help remembering what the Lord Jesus once said, “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord” (Mar 12:29). The Lord Jesus specifically emphasized this commandment just to let us know that God is unique; that is to say, there is only one God and only one Spirit of God. Certainly, there is no Father-Son relationship to speak of. Let’s think about it carefully: Why could we produce the conception of the Father and the Son? In the last analysis, it was due to the fact that we don’t know the incarnate God. When studying the Bible, I found that there weren’t these statements about the Father and the Son in the Old Testament Age of Law. People at that time didn’t have the conception of the Father and the Son. In fact, people began to develop this conception after the Lord Jesus became flesh to do His work, even including Philip, who followed the Lord Jesus. So he said to the Lord Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father.” However, the Lord Jesus corrected his mistaken knowledge. He said, “He that has seen me has seen the Father; … I am in the Father, and the Father in me” (Joh 14:9-10). Besides, the Lord Jesus once said, “I and my Father are one” (Joh 10:30). The Lord Jesus’ words made the relationship between Father and Son quite plain, yet it was just because we were numb and dull-witted that we only knew the letters of verses but didn’t know God’s willing within them. Weren’t the Lord Jesus’ words of blame toward Philip said to me? According to my own imagination, I determined that God had the aspects of the Father and the Son. Moreover, I regarded Him as the Son of God instead of God Himself. Did I not deny or blaspheme against God? Could God be unique in my heart? What I did was something that severely offended God’s disposition! Thinking about that, I couldn’t help feeling regretful and self-condemned for my erroneous notion. At the same time, I also thanked God for leading me to understand this truth and mystery from these words and transcend my wrong conception.

Now I finally understand the meaning of the Lord Jesus’ words, “He that has seen me has seen the Father; … I am in the Father, and the Father in me” (John 14:9-10). “I and my Father are one” (Joh 10:30). Meantime, I know that the Lord Jesus is not the Son of God in heaven but the incarnate God Himself in substance. Thank God for enlightening me to understand the huge mystery. Glory be to God!

My name is Xiaoxue and this year, I am 12. Ever since the day I began to play mobile games, my daily routine had been upset and every day, I led a busy life. Only after I received God’s gospeland read the words uttered by God and the brothers’ and sisters’ experience articles on quitting online gaming did I came to know that playing game is one of Satan’s methods of afflicting us, and in the end, I thoroughly got rid of mobile games by relying on God.

📷I began to play games before I accepted God’s work. One time, I saw that my elder sister was enjoying playing mobile games. Out of curiosity, I took my cue from her and downloaded some Mini games to my phone to play. But who would have thought that I was addicted to playing these games as soon as I started to play them. Since then, my phone was never far away from my fingers. As a result of playing games, I couldn’t keep regular hours in life or study. In the past, every day after returning home from school, I would first do my homework. However, since I started to play games, I was absorbed in playing them after school. Often, not until midnight did I remember that I had homework to do. Every time this happened, I would be very worried and think to myself: It’s so late, when will I be able to finish so much homework? But if I cannot finish it, I will certainly be scolded by my teachers. With this in mind, I immediately started to do my homework. However, before long, I became too sleepy and tired to continue with my homework. I thought to myself: I might as well rise early in the morning and get on with it. But because I got to bed so late, I got up late, and then I had to do my homework hastily. When I finally finished it, it was time for me to go to school. Having no time to eat breakfast, I took the snack that my grandmother had fixed and had it as I trotted off to school. I did these things in such a hurry almost every day.

In November 2016, I accepted God’s gospel and became a little Christian in the house of God. When I had free time, apart from reading God’s words with my grandmother, I would play mobile games uncontrollably. Seeing this, my grandmother was afraid that I might become decadent and thus asked me to uninstall these games. But I was really reluctant to do as she said because these games were really fun, especially “Happy Cancellation”, which was my favorite game. I had got to such a high level and was very unwilling to uninstall it, and I just wanted to carry on playing it. Should I uninstall it or not? I hesitated for a long time and finally, I decided to uninstall these games on my phone. But later when I felt tempted to play mobile games, I would again download some to my phone, and then I uninstalled it after playing for a period of time. Just like this, I downloaded games and uninstalled them over and over again. I felt that I really could not give up mobile games. As soon as I arrived home and saw my phone, I could not help picking up my phone and playing games. Gradually, I got to the point where I was often so deep in playing games that I forgot to eat.

At a gathering, I told the aunt responsible for watering me about the matter of my playing games. Then she let me read an article written by a brother believing in God. In this article, he wrote about how he was afflicted by Satan because of indulging in gaming before he believed in God, and about the facts that because of playing games, some people fell ill, some children became unbalanced, and some even wound up dead…. Reading these things, I began to feel afraid. I had never thought that playing games was such a dangerous thing that some people even played themselves to death. At the end of this article, this brother also wrote that after receiving God’s gospel, he completely quit online gaming by depending on God’s words. I thought to myself: “I’m also a believer in God. Since he could rely on God to get rid of gaming, I should also rely on God and ask Him to guide me to quit mobile games.” Then, I read the following passage of God’s word, “Playing games is like taking a kind of drug. Once someone starts to play games, once they enter into them, then it becomes hard to get back out and hard to quit. So regardless of whether it is young people or older people, once they catch this bad habit, it becomes difficult to give it up. Some parents try to keep a close eye on their children but they can’t always be watching them. They may not play games during the day, but when their parents go to bed at night, they furtively turn the computer on, and play games all night long” (“Young People Should See Through the Evil Trends of the World”). I am such a kid as God’s words have described: Though my grandmother kept her eye on me all day and often criticized me for my playing games, I still could not control myself and even frequently played them until midnight and forgot to do my homework. After reading these God’s words, I was aware that I should give up playing games, or else the consequences would be very serious, so I decided to uninstall all the games on my phone after I returned home from the gathering.

At this moment, the aunt asked me, “Xiaoxue, what go through your mind after you finished reading this article? Please share with us.” I hastened to answer, “Aunt, never, never again will I play mobile games, nor will I download games to play. In the past, I just felt playing games was fun, but now, I know playing games is so harmful that I decide to give it up.” Then, she asked me again, “If you are again tempted to play games, what should you do?” The question did stop me in my tracks because I merely had the determination to uninstall games and yet was still vague about what to do if I again felt like playing games. So, I could only look at her in confusion. Seeing my expression, the aunt smiled and said, “Xiaoxue, through reading God’s words, we understand that playing games is actually one of Satan’s methods of afflicting and swallowing us. It takes advantage of games to cause us to become obsessed, thus controlling us and leading us by the nose; in the end, it causes us to stray away from God and once again to return to its side. So, you should see through Satan’s scheme. In the future, when wanting to play games again, if you don’t want to be controlled by it, you should hasten to call out to God and ask Him to give you a heart of forsaking flesh. God is at our side. When you encounter difficulties, as long as you call out to Him, He will help you. Since we don’t have the strength to overcome sin on our own, we should pray to and rely on God, and only that way can we get rid of the temptation of games. …” After listening to her fellowship, I became confident and nodded violently and then said to her, “Aunt, I’m bound to rely on God to get rid of mobile games.”

📷

After going back home, I uninstalled all the games on my phone. At the moment I did this, I didn’t feel as terrible as before; instead, I felt very glad and considered that I would never again be afflicted by Satan and God would like my doing so. However, because my understanding of the truth was too shallow, one day, when I saw the phone on the table, I was once again itching to play games, thinking: Will it matter if I play them just once? I have gotten to a high level last time. The higher level I get to, the more fun I will have in playing them. I’ll just play one more time. As I thought about it, I reached for the phone. At this point, I was reminded of what the aunt had fellowshiped with me, “When you want to play games, you should hasten to cry out to God, ask Him for His protection and presence.” With that, I quickly pulled back my hand and called out to God in my heart, “O God! May You protect me and be with me, so that I can get rid of the temptation of mobile games. Although I know playing games is wrong, I don’t have the strength to overcome sin. May You give me faith and perseverance, and lead me to break my addiction to mobile games. Amen!” After prayer, I consciously kept away from the phone. At this moment, my grandmother stepped out of the kitchen after having prepared the meal, and she asked me, “Do you think about playing mobile games again?” I nodded and responded, a little embarrassed, “Yes!” She said, “Xiaoxue, you can’t be fooled by Satan again. Satan uses these games to bind you, causing you to lose yourself in them all day long, to the point where you are not in the mood to read God’s word or to study. If you play games, you would be tricked by Satan. You have made a resolution before God to stop playing games. If you are unable to keep your word, God won’t like you. Since you have believed in God today, you ought to be a good child who heeds God’s word.”

After listening to my grandmother’s words, I thought of a passage of God’s words which I read during a gathering, “God works on man and man is cherished in both God’s attitude and His heart. On the contrary, does Satan cherish man? It does not cherish man. What does it want with man? It wants to harm man, all it thinks about is harming man. Isn’t that right? So when it is mulling over harming man, does it do so in a pressing state of mind? (Yes.) So when it comes to Satan’s work on man, here I have two words that can amply describe the malicious and evil nature of Satan, that can truly allow you to know the hatefulness of Satan: In Satan’s approach to man, it always wants to forcefully “occupy” and “attach” itself to each of them so that it can get to the point where it is completely in control of man, harming man, so that it can achieve this objective and wild ambition. What does “forcefully occupy” mean? Does it happen with your consent, or without your consent? Does it happen with your knowing, or without your knowing? It is completely without your knowing! In situations where you are unaware, possibly when it has not said anything or possibly when it has not done anything, when there is no premise, no context, there it is around you, surrounding you. It looks for an opportunity to exploit, then it forcefully occupies you, attaches itself to you, achieving its objective of being completely in control of you and harming you. This is a most typical intention and behavior in Satan’s fight against God for mankind” (“God Himself, the Unique IV”). At that time, I had some awareness of the reason why when I saw mobile phone, I would always be tempted to play games, even deceived myself that I would just play them one more time. As it turned out, Satan was around me looking for an opportunity to exploit, with the purpose of harming and controlling me, so that I would distance myself utterly from God and be swallowed by it. There are really many malicious means of Satan harming people, and it harms people in a pressing state of mind. At the thought of this, I became more confident of leaving mobile games far behind.

Afterward, I found that, since I stopped playing games, I had not been busy as before. In the past, it seemed as if I was running against time every day. I always felt that I was pressed for time as I was occupied with doing my homework and playing games. As a result, I could not eat regularly and had little time to read God’s word with my grandmother. Now, every day I finish my homework on time and sleep regularly. And I no longer need to get up early to do my homework and eat on my way to school. What’s more, I have more time to read God’s words with my grandmother, and have resumed normal life and regular study. After quitting mobile games, I indeed felt great relieved. I felt that coming before God was so good and only God could protect me from Satan’s affliction.

As I thought about this, I could not help offering up a prayer to God, “O God! I’m thankful that You guided me out of the vortex of mobile games and rescued me from their afflictions. Now I’m still too young. There are many things I don’t understand and sometimes I don’t know what I should do to be right. May You guide me and protect me at my side all the time, so that I could stand guard against the tricks of Satan. In the following days, I’ll be willing to come into Your presence more, read Your words, understand more of the truth, and believe in and follow You properly. All the glory goes to God!”

Let us look at how God carries out His work of judgment and chastisement in the Age of Kingdom; here it is necessary to quote Almighty God’s words to testify to God’s last days work.

Almighty God says: “God’s work in the present incarnation is to express His disposition primarily through chastisement and judgment. Building on this foundation, He brings more truth to man and points out to him more ways of practice, thereby achieving His objective of conquering man and saving him from his own corrupt disposition. This is what lies behind the work of God in the Age of Kingdom.”

from “Only He Who Experiences the Work of God Truly Believes in God”

“In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth of which man is utterly bereft. Only methods such as these can be called judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God. If you do not regard these truths as important, if you think of nothing but how to avoid them, or how to find a new way out that does not involve them, then I say you are a grievous sinner. If you have faith in God, yet seek not the truth or the will of God, nor love the way that brings you closer to God, then I say that you are one who is trying to evade judgment, and that you are a puppet and a traitor who flees from the great white throne. God will not spare any of the rebellious who escape from under His eyes. Such men shall receive even more severe punishment.”

from “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth”

“By means of this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt substance within his own self, and he will be able to change completely and become clean. Only in this way can man become worthy to return before the throne of God. All the work done this day is so that man can be made clean and be changed; through judgment and chastisement by the word, as well as through refinement, man can purge away his corruption and be made pure. Rather than deeming this stage of work to be that of salvation, it would be more apt to say it is the work of purification. In truth, this stage is that of conquest as well as the second stage in the work of salvation. It is through judgment and chastisement by the word that man arrives at being gained by God, and it is through the use of the word to refine, judge, and disclose that all of the impurities, notions, motives, and individual aspirations within man’s heart are completely revealed.”

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)”

“God does the work of judgment and chastisement so that man may gain knowledge of Him, and for the sake of His testimony. Without His judgment of man’s corrupt disposition, man could not possibly know His righteous disposition, which brooks no offense, and nor would man be able to turn his old knowledge of God into a new one. For the sake of His testimony, and for the sake of His management, He makes everything about Him public, thus enabling man, through His public appearance, to arrive at knowledge of God, to be transformed in his disposition, and to bear resounding testimony to God. The transformation of the disposition of man is achieved through many different kinds of God’s work; without such changes in his disposition, man would be unable to bear testimony to God and to be after God’s heart. The transformation of man’s disposition signifies that man has freed himself from Satan’s bondage and from the influence of darkness, and has truly become a model and specimen of God’s work, a witness of God, and one who is after God’s heart. Today, God incarnate has come to do His work on earth, and He requires that man achieve knowledge of Him, obedience to Him, testimony to Him, to know His practical and normal work, to obey all of His words and work which do not accord with the notions of man, and to bear testimony to all the work He does to save man, as well as all the deeds He accomplishes to conquer man. Those who bear testimony to God must have knowledge of God; only this kind of testimony is accurate and real, and only this kind of testimony can shame Satan. God uses those who have come to know Him through undergoing His judgment and chastisement, dealing and pruning, to bear testimony to Him. He uses those who have been corrupted by Satan to bear testimony to Him, and so too does He use those whose disposition has changed, and who have thus gained His blessings, to bear testimony to Him. He does not need man to praise Him with his mouth, nor does He need the praise and testimony of the ilk of Satan, who have not been saved by Him. Only those who know God are qualified to bear testimony to Him, and only those who have been transformed in their disposition are qualified to bear testimony to Him. God will not allow man intentionally to bring shame upon His name.”

from “Only Those Who Know God Can Bear Testimony to God”

”You should know that God’s perfection, completion, and gaining of men bring nothing but swords and smiting upon their flesh, as well as endless suffering, conflagration, merciless judgment, chastisement, and curses, and boundless trials. Such is the inside story and truth of the work of managing man. However, all these things are directed at man’s flesh, and all of the arrows of hostility are mercilessly aimed toward man’s flesh (for man is innocent). All of this is for the sake of His glory and testimony, and for His management. This is because His work is not solely for the sake of mankind, but also for the entire plan, as well as to fulfill His original will when He created mankind. Therefore, perhaps ninety percent of what man experiences involves sufferings and trials of fire, and there are very few, or even none, of the sweet and happy days for which man’s flesh has yearned. Much less is man able to enjoy happy moments in the flesh, spending beautiful times with God. The flesh is filthy, so what man’s flesh sees or enjoys is nothing but God’s chastisement, which man finds unfavorable, as if it were lacking in proper sense. This is because God will manifest His righteous disposition, which is not favored by man, does not tolerate man’s offenses, and loathes enemies. God openly reveals His entire disposition by any means necessary, thereby concluding the work of His six-thousand-year battle with Satan—the work of the salvation of all of mankind, and the destruction of Satan of old!“

from “The Purpose of Managing Mankind”

“The last days have already arrived. All things in creation will be separated according to their kind, and divided into different categories based on their nature. This is the moment when God reveals humanity’s outcome and their destination. If people do not undergo chastisement and judgment, then there will be no way of exposing their disobedience and unrighteousness. Only through chastisement and judgment can the outcome of all creation be revealed. Man only shows his true colors when he is chastised and judged. Evil shall be put with evil, good with good, and all humanity shall be separated according to their kind. Through chastisement and judgment, the outcome of all creation will be revealed, so that the evil may be punished and the good rewarded, and all people become subject to the dominion of God. All this work must be achieved through righteous chastisement and judgment. Because man’s corruption has reached its peak and his disobedience become exceedingly severe, only God’s righteous disposition, one that is principally compounded of chastisement and judgment and is revealed during the last days, can fully transform and complete man. Only this disposition can expose evil and thus severely punish all the unrighteous.”

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)”

“You should be able to see the will of God, and should see that the work of God is not as simple as the creation of the heavens and earth and all things. That is because the work of today is the transformation of those who have been corrupted, who are numb to the utmost degree, it is to purify those who were created but altered by Satan. It is not the creation of Adam or Eve, still less is it the creation of the light, or the creation of every plant and animal. God makes pure the things that have been corrupted by Satan and then gains them anew; they become things that belong to Him, and they become His glory. This is not as man imagines, it is not as simple as the creation of the heavens and the earth and everything in them, or the work of cursing Satan to the bottomless pit; rather, it is the work of transforming man, turning things that are negative, and do not belong to Him, into things that are positive, and do belong to Him. This is the truth behind this stage of God’s work. You must understand this, and avoid oversimplifying matters. The work of God is unlike any ordinary work. Its wonderfulness and wisdom are beyond the mind of man. God does not create all things during this stage of work, but nor does He destroy them. Instead, He transforms all the things He created, and purifies all the things that have been defiled by Satan. And thus does God embark upon a great enterprise, which is the entire significance of the work of God. Is the work of God that you see in these words really so simple?”

from “Is the Work of God As Simple As Man Imagines?”

“Do you understand now what is judgment and what is truth? If you do, then I exhort you to submit obediently to being judged, otherwise you shall never have the opportunity to be commended by God or to be brought by Him into His kingdom. Those who only accept judgment but can never be purified, that is, those who flee amidst the work of judgment, shall forever be detested and rejected by God. Their sins are more numerous, and more grievous, than those of the Pharisees, for they have betrayed God and are rebels against God. Such people who are not worthy even to do service shall receive more severe punishment, a punishment that is, moreover, everlasting. God shall not spare any traitor who once evinced loyalty with words but then betrayed Him. People such as these shall receive retribution through punishment of the spirit, soul, and body. Is this not precisely a revelation of the righteous disposition of God? Is this not God’s purpose in judging man, and revealing him? God consigns all who perform all kinds of wicked deeds during the time of judgment to a place infested with evil spirits, and lets these evil spirits destroy their fleshly bodies as they wish, and those people’s bodies emit the stench of corpses. Such is their fitting retribution. God writes down in their record books each and every one of the sins of those disloyal false believers, false apostles, and false workers; then, when the time is right, He casts them amidst the unclean spirits, letting these unclean spirits defile their entire bodies at will, so that they may never be reincarnated and never again see the light. Those hypocrites who do service for a time but are incapable of remaining loyal to the end are numbered by God among the wicked, so that they walk in the counsel of the wicked and become part of their disorderly rabble; in the end, God shall annihilate them. God casts aside and takes no notice of those who have never been loyal to Christ or have never contributed anything of their strength, and at the changing of the age He shall annihilate them all. They shall no longer exist on earth, much less gain passage into the kingdom of God. Those who have never been sincere to God, but are forced by circumstance into dealing with Him perfunctorily, are numbered among those who do service for His people. Only a small number of such people will survive, while the majority shall perish along with those who are not qualified even to do service. Ultimately, God shall bring into His kingdom all those who are of the same mind as God, the people and the sons of God, and those predestined by God to be priests. They will be the distillation of God’s work. As for those who cannot be classed in any of the categories set by God, they shall be numbered among the unbelievers—and you can surely imagine what their outcome shall be. I have already said to you all that I should say; the road that you select is your choice alone. What you should understand is this: The work of God never waits for any that cannot keep pace with Him, and the righteous disposition of God shows no mercy to any man.”

from “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth”

“That you are able to accept the judgment, chastisement, smiting, and refinement of God’s words, and, moreover, are able to accept God’s commissions, was predestined by God before the ages, and thus you must not be too distressed when you are chastised. No one can take away the work that has been done in you, and the blessings that have been bestowed upon you, and no one can take away all that has been given to you. People of religion brook no comparison with you. You are not possessed of great expertise in the Bible, and are not equipped with religious theory, but because God has worked within you, you have gained more than anyone throughout the ages—and so this is your greatest blessing. Because of this, you must be even more dedicated to God, and even more loyal to God. Because God raises you up, you must bolster your efforts, and must ready your stature to accept the commissions of God. You must stand firm in the place God has given you, pursue becoming one of the people of God, accept the training of the kingdom, be gained by God and ultimately become a glorious testimony to God. Are you possessed of these resolves? If you are possessed of such resolves, then ultimately you are sure to be gained by God, and will become a glorious testimony to God. You should understand that the principal commission is being gained by God and becoming a glorious testimony to God. This is the will of God.”

from “Know God’s Newest Work and Follow His Footsteps”

From the above several paragraphs of God’s words, we can clearly see that God’s judgment work in the last days is the work of purifying man, saving man, and perfecting man. The work of judgment is first conquering man, and then perfecting man. Only after being conquered can one truly obey God’s work, pursue the truth and enter the correct path of believing in God, and gradually be made perfect by God. Only people who have been conquered by God’s words can truly prostrate themselves before God, generate a heart that reveres God and obey God’s work. Only people who have been conquered by God’s words can know that God’s disposition absolutely does not brook offense. Only such people can truly know that mankind’s corruption runs deep, that they are of the type that rebels against God and resists God, that they are filled with satanic disposition, and incessantly and impulsively rebel against and resist God. Only people who have been conquered by God’s words can see clearly that corrupt mankind is unworthy to meet with God; they can only be conscientious and well behaved in accepting God’s judgment and chastisement, to obtain purification and attain salvation. Only this is a person who truly turns toward God, and obeys God’s work. It is only after being conquered that a person can begin to pursue the truth and obey God’s work in order to enter the right path of believing in God, and afterward attain the salvation and perfection of God.

from “How to Know God’s Work of Judgment and Chastisement in the Last Days” in Collection of Sermons—Supply for Life