Many brothers and sisters in the Lord are waiting for the return of Lord Jesus. The prophecies in Revelation one after another all fulfill. Thus we expecting returned God more urgently. Returned Savior of the last days- Almighty God has loosed the seven seals, opened the book, and bring the salvation, let’s reunite with the Lord in today.
The five wise virgins represent My sons and My people among the humans that I created. Addressing them[a] “virgins” is because although they are born on earth, they are still gained by Me; one can say they have become holy, so they are called “virgins.” The aforementioned “five” represents the number of My sons and My people that I have predestined. “Five foolish virgins” refers to the service-doers. They do service for Me without placing the slightest degree of importance on life, only pursuing external things (because they do not have My quality, no matter what they do it is an external thing), and they are unable to be My capable helpers, so they are called “foolish virgins.” The aforementioned “five” represents Satan, and their being called[b] “virgins” means that they have been conquered by Me and are able to do service for Me, but this kind of person is not holy, so they are called service-doers.
from “Chapter 116” of Utterances of Christ in the Beginning in The Word Appears in the Flesh
“If I were not saved by God, I would still be drifting in this world,
struggling hard and painfully in sin, every day bleak and hopeless.
If I were not saved by God, I’d still be crushed below the devil’s feet,
snared in sin and its enjoyments, ignorant of what my life would be.
It’s Almighty God who saves me; all God’s words have purified my heart.
Through God’s judgment and His chastisement, my corrupted disposition’s changed.
All the word and truth God expresses, it has all given me new life.
I have seen my God face to face and have tasted God’s true love.
Finally I’ve understood God’s loving hand holds mine as we go.
Now I have heard the voice of God and been raised before God’s throne.
The feast of my Christ I attend, to be perfected and purified by Him.
What I’d hoped for is finally realized, I have now been saved by God.”
(“If I Were Not Saved by God” in Follow the Lamb and Sing New Songs). Whenever I hear this hymn of experience, I am always deeply moved. If it weren’t for God saving me, as described in the hymn, I might still be wandering aimlessly in the world, tiring myself out chasing after money, even to the point that I would long since have lost my life and died abroad in a foreign land …
I’m a child of the eighties, and was born in an ordinary farmer household. My older brother was always unwell and sick since he was little. My father was wounded in an accident when I was 10; he was paralyzed two years after that. Our family’s financial situation was poor to begin with, and we went heavily into debt treating my father. Our friends and relatives were afraid that we would never be able to pay back the debt, and weren’t willing to loan us money. Helpless, I was forced to drop out of school at 16 to work away from home. In deep and quiet night, I would often think: When they were young, children the same age as me would play freely after school, while I would have to be in fields doing farming work; now they have grown up as me, and they are still going to school, acting like spoiled children with their parents, but I have to start working at an early age and suffer all kinds of hardships to support my family. … At that time, I complained to my parents about why they gave birth to me, and asked why it was that I came into this world just to suffer and toil. But there was nothing I could do about it, and I could only accept this reality. At the time, my greatest wish was to work hard, earn money, and allow my parents to live comfortably, and no longer be looked down on by others.
Editor’s Note: If you have someone like this in your life, someone who wants to become wealthy but never succeeds, and who lives in torment, how should you help him escape his misery? What follows is the experience of author Shun Xin, whose predicament was precisely this, but today she can calmly evaluate her monetary gains and losses, and has found a wealth more valuable than riches. How did she emerge from her torment? And what is this wealth more valuable than money? Let’s discover these things through her story.
Struggling in Vain to Become Wealthy
I experienced the shame of poverty and the hardship of life as a child, so I became determined to study hard and become rich in the future, to enjoy wealth and luxury, and to have others admire and look up to me. After more than ten years of bitter study, I was only able to enter a third-class university, but I wasn’t discouraged. I believed that as long as I worked hard, I could still become rich.
After graduating from university, I found a job as an English teacher. When I learned that my colleagues who worked for two years were only paid just over 2,000 yuan, I resolutely resigned. Later, I went to training schools in Shanghai and then Qingdao to work in sales. Every day, from morning to night, I constantly called people to sell our products, and through significant effort, my monthly salary reached nearly 10,000 yuan. Just when I was eager to do something even bigger, school leadership changed, and I was fired for no reason. I didn’t want to go, but there was nothing I could do except leave with regret.
Just like all the other brothers and sisters who thirst for the return of the Lord Jesus, I too continuously long for our Lord eagerly to return to receive us into the kingdom of heaven soon so that we can enjoy its blessings. One day in November of 2006 I finally heard the news of the Lord’s return. Through reading the words expressed by Almighty God and through the fellowshiping about and bearing witness to God’s work in the last days from my brothers and sisters, I finally recognized that Almighty God incarnate is the returned Lord Jesus. Thereupon, I willingly accepted Almighty God’s work in the last days.
Whether or not your disposition can be transformed depends upon whether or not you keep up with the Holy Spirit’s current word and whether or not you have genuine understanding. This is different from what you understood before. The transformation in your disposition that you understood before was that you, who are quick to judge, have ceased to speak thoughtlessly by God’s discipline; but this is just one aspect of the change. Right now the most critical point is following the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Follow whatever God says, and obey whatever He says. People cannot change their own disposition; they must undergo the judgment and chastisement, the suffering and refinement of God’s word, or being dealt with, disciplined, and pruned by His word. Only after that can they attain obedience and devotion to God, and no longer try to deal with Him perfunctorily. It is under the refinement of God’s word that people are transformed in their disposition. Only those who undergo the exposure and judgment of His word, and are disciplined and dealt with by His word, will no longer dare to do things recklessly, instead becoming steady and composed. The most important point is that they are able to submit to God’s current word and to His work, and even if it is not in line with human notions, they are able to put these notions aside and willingly submit. When a change in disposition has been spoken of in the past, it has mainly referred to being able to forsake oneself, allowing the flesh to suffer, disciplining one’s body, and ridding oneself of fleshly preferences—this is one form of change in disposition. People nowadays know that the real expression of a change in disposition is obeying the current word of God as well as being able to have a genuine understanding of His new work. This way they will be able to get rid of their previous understanding of God, which was colored by their own notions, and attain true understanding of and obedience to Him. Only this would be a genuine expression of a change in disposition.
from “Those Whose Disposition Has Changed Are Those Who Have Entered Into the Reality of God’s Word” in The Word Appears in the Flesh
What is a transformation in disposition? You must be a lover of truth, you must accept the judgment and chastisement of God’s word as you experience His work, and experience all kinds of suffering and refinement, through which you are cleansed of the satanic poisons within you. This is a transformation in disposition. … A transformation in disposition means that a person, because he loves and can accept the truth, finally comes to know his disobedient nature that is in opposition to God; he understands that the human corruption is too deep and recognizes man’s absurdness and deceitfulness. He recognizes man’s poorness and pitifulness, and finally understands man’s nature and essence. Knowing all this, he can deny and forsake himself completely, live by God’s word, and practice the truth in everything. This is someone who know God; this is someone whose disposition has transformed.
from “How to Know Man’s Nature” in Records of Christ’s Talks
A transformation in disposition mainly refers to a transformation in people’s nature. The things of a person’s nature cannot be seen from outside behaviors; they are directly related to the worth and significance of their existence. They directly involve a person’s values in life, the things deep within their soul, and their essence. Someone who is unable to accept the truth will have no transformation in these aspects. Only by experiencing God’s work, fully entering into the truth, changing their values and their outlooks on existence and life, aligning their views with God’s, and becoming capable of completely submitting and being devoted to God, can their dispositions be said to have changed.
from “What You Should Know About Transforming Your Disposition” in Records of Christ’s Talks
People that believe in the Lord know that the Lord Jesus really hated the Pharisees and cursed them and pronounced seven woes upon them. This is very meaningful in allowing believers in the Lord to discern the hypocritical Pharisees, break away from their bondage and control and obtain God’s salvation. However, it’s a shame that many believers cannot discern the essence of the Pharisees’ hypocrisy. They don’t even understand why the Lord Jesus hated and cursed the Pharisees so much. Today we will talk for a bit about these problems. The Pharisees often interpreted the Bible to others in the synagogue. They often prayed before others and used the rules of the Bible to condemn people. On the surface, they seemed like reverent keepers of the Bible. If so, then why did the Lord hate them and curse them so much? In reality, the main reason is that they only cared about performing religious ceremonies and following rules, and that they only interpreted the rules and doctrines in the Bible and never communed God’s will to anyone, nor did they focus on practicing God’s words or obeying God’s commandments. In fact, they ignored God’s commandments. Everything they did was completely in opposition to God’s will and demands. That is the essence of the Pharisees’ hypocrisy and resistance of God. That is the key reason why the Lord Jesus hated and cursed them. The Lord Jesus said as much when He exposed them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honor your father and mother: and, He that curses father or mother, let him die the death. But you say, Whoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatever you might be profited by me; And honor not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have you made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. You hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, This people draws near to me with their mouth, and honors me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mat 15:3-9). Now that the Lord Jesus has exposed the Pharisees, we can clearly see that although the Pharisees often interpreted the Bible to others in the synagogue, they did not revere or magnify God at all. They did not follow God’s commandments, and even replaced God’s commandments with the traditions of men; they forgot about God’s commandments. They were openly opposing God. Isn’t this irrefutable evidence of how the Pharisees served God yet also resisted Him? How could they have avoided incurring God’s curses and hatred? God’s commandments clearly stated, “You shall not kill.” “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” But the Pharisees ignored God’s commandments. They openly bore false witness and condemned and killed the prophets and righteous men sent by God; they directly resisted God. Therefore, the Lord Jesus condemned and cursed the Pharisees, saying, “You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell? Why, behold, I send to you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall you whip in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth” (Mat 23:33-35). The Pharisees fanatically resisted God and killed the prophets and righteous men He sent. They tried to destroy God’s work and block the carrying out of His will. They seriously enraged God’s disposition. How could they not have been cursed by Him?! Did the Pharisees not do all those things? Are we still unable to see the Pharisees’ hypocritical essence and behavior?
