124-A-1
Let’s first read a passage of God’s words, “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life.”
The way of life is not something that can be possessed by just anyone, nor is it easily obtainable by all. That is because life can only come from God, which is to say, only God Himself possesses the substance of life, there is no way of life without God Himself, and so only God is the source of life, and the ever-flowing wellspring of living water of life. From when He created the world, God has done much work involving the vitality of life, has done much work that brings life to man, and has paid a great price so that man might gain life, for God Himself is eternal life, and God Himself is the way by which man is resurrected. God is never absent from the heart of man, and lives among man at all times. He has been the driving force of man’s living, the fundament of man’s existence, and a rich deposit for man’s existence after birth. He causes man to be reborn, and enables him to tenaciously live in his every role. Thanks to His power, and His inextinguishable life force, man has lived for generation after generation, throughout which the power of God’s life has been the mainstay of man’s existence, and for which God has paid a price that no ordinary man has ever paid. God’s life force can prevail over any power; moreover, it exceeds any power. His life is eternal, His power extraordinary, and His life force not easily overwhelmed by any created being or enemy force. The life force of God exists, and shines its brilliant radiance, regardless of time or place. God’s life remains forever unchanged throughout the upheavals of heaven and earth. All things pass away, but God’s life still remains, for God is the source of the existence of all things, and the root of their existence. Man’s life originates from God, the existence of the heaven is because of God, and the existence of the earth stems from the power of God’s life. No object possessed of vitality can transcend the sovereignty of God, and no thing with vigor can break away from the ambit of God’s authority. In this way, regardless of who they are, everyone must submit under the dominion of God, everyone must live under God’s command, and no one can escape from His control.
Perhaps, now, you wish to receive life, or perhaps you wish to gain the truth. Whatever the case, you wish to find God, to find the God that you can rely on, and who can provide you with eternal life. If you wish to gain eternal life, you must first understand the source of eternal life, and must first know where God is. I have already said that only God is immutable life, and only God possesses the way of life. Since His life is immutable, so it is eternal; since only God is the way of life, so God Himself is the way of eternal life. As such, you should first understand where God is, and how to gain this way of eternal life. Let us now fellowship about these two issues separately.
If you truly wish to gain the way of eternal life, and if you are voracious in your search for it, then first answer this question: Where is God today? Perhaps you’ll reply that God lives in heaven, of course—He wouldn’t be living in your home, would He? Perhaps you might say, God obviously lives among all things. Or you might say that God lives in each person’s heart, or that God is in the spiritual world. I don’t deny any of this, but I must clarify the issue. It isn’t totally correct to say that God lives in the heart of man, but neither is it completely wrong. That is because, among believers in God, there are those whose belief is true and those whose belief is false, there are those of whom God approves and those of whom He disapproves, there are those who please Him and those whom He detests, and there are those whom He makes perfect and those whom He eliminates. And so I say that God lives in but a few people’s hearts, and these people are undoubtedly those who truly believe in God, those of whom God approves, those who please Him, and those whom He makes perfect. They are the ones who are led by God. Since they are led by God, so they are the people who have already heard and seen God’s way of eternal life. Those whose belief in God is false, those who are not approved by God, those who are despised by God, those who are eliminated by God—they are bound to be rejected by God, are bound to remain without the way of life, and are bound to remain ignorant of where God is. In contrast, those in whose hearts God lives know where He is. They are the people unto whom God bestows the way of eternal life, and they are the ones who follow God. Do you know, now, where God is? God is both in the heart of man and at man’s side. He is not only in the spiritual world, and above all things, but even more on the earth upon which man exists. And so the arrival of the last days has taken the steps of God’s work into new territory. God holds sovereignty over all things in the universe, and He is the mainstay of man in his heart, and moreover, He exists among man. Only in this way can He bring the way of life to mankind, and bring man into the way of life. God has come to earth, and lives among man, so that man may gain the way of life, and so that man may exist. At the same time, God also commands all things in the universe, so that they might cooperate with His management among man. And so, if you only acknowledge the doctrine that God is in heaven and in the heart of man, yet do not acknowledge the truth of God’s existence among man, then you shall never gain life, and shall never gain the way of truth.
God Himself is life, and the truth, and His life and truth coexist. Those who are incapable of gaining the truth shall never gain life. Without the guidance, support, and provision of the truth, you shall only gain letters, doctrines, and, moreover, death. God’s life is ever-present, and His truth and life coexist. If you cannot find the source of truth, then you will not gain the nourishment of life; if you cannot gain the provision of life, then you will surely have no truth, and so apart from imaginations and conceptions, the entirety of your body shall be nothing but flesh, your stinking flesh. Know that the words of books do not count as life, the records of history cannot be feted as the truth, and the doctrines of the past cannot serve as an account of words presently spoken by God. Only that which is expressed by God when He comes to earth and lives among man is the truth, life, God’s will, and His current way of working. If you apply the records of words spoken by God during past ages to today, then you are an archaeologist, and the best way of describing you is as an expert on historical heritage. That is because you always believe in traces of the work that God did in times gone by, only believe in the shadow of God left from when He previously worked among man, and only believe in the way that God gave to His followers in former times. You do not believe in the direction of God’s work today, do not believe in the glorious countenance of God today, and do not believe in the way of truth presently expressed by God. And so you are undeniably a daydreamer who is completely out of touch with reality. If now you still cling to words that are incapable of bringing life to man, then you are a hopeless piece of deadwood,[a] for you are too conservative, too intractable, too impervious to reason!
God become flesh is called Christ, and so the Christ that can give people the truth is called God. There is nothing excessive about this, for He possesses the substance of God, and possesses God’s disposition, and wisdom in His work, that are unattainable by man. Those who call themselves Christ, yet cannot do the work of God, are frauds. Christ is not merely the manifestation of God on earth, but instead, the particular flesh assumed by God as He carries out and completes His work among man. This flesh is not one that can be replaced by just any man, but one that can adequately bear God’s work on earth, and express the disposition of God, and well represent God, and provide man with life. Sooner or later, those fake Christs will all fall, for although they claim to be Christ, they possess none of the substance of Christ. And so I say that the authenticity of Christ cannot be defined by man, but is answered and decided by God Himself. In this way, if you truly wish to seek the way of life, you must first acknowledge it is by coming to earth that He bestows the way of life unto man, and you must acknowledge it is during the last days that He comes to earth to bestow the way of life unto man. This is not the past; it is happening today.
Christ of the last days brings life, and brings the enduring and everlasting way of truth. This truth is the path through which man shall gain life, and the only path by which man shall know God and be approved by God. If you do not seek the way of life provided by Christ of the last days, then you shall never gain the approval of Jesus, and shall never be qualified to enter the gate of the kingdom of heaven, for you are both a puppet and prisoner of history. Those who are controlled by regulations, by letters, and shackled by history will never be able to gain life, and will never be able to gain the perpetual way of life. That is because all they have is turbid water that has lain stagnant for thousands of years, instead of the water of life that flows from the throne. Those who are not supplied with the water of life will forever remain corpses, playthings of Satan, and sons of hell. How, then, can they behold God? If you only try to hold on to the past, only try to keep things as they are by standing still, and do not try to change the status quo and discard history, then will you not always be against God? The steps of God’s work are vast and mighty, like surging waves and rolling thunders—yet you sit and passively await destruction, sticking to your folly and doing nothing. In this way, how can you be considered someone who follows in the footsteps of the Lamb? How can you justify the God that you hold on to as a God who is always new and never old? And how can the words of your yellowed books carry you across into a new age? How can they lead you to seek the steps of God’s work? And how can they take you up to heaven? What you hold in your hands is the letters that can provide but temporary solace, not the truths that are capable of giving life. The scriptures you read are that which can only enrich your tongue, not words of wisdom that can help you know human life, much less the ways that can lead you to perfection. Does this discrepancy not give you cause for reflection? Does it not allow you to understand the mysteries contained within? Are you capable of delivering yourself to heaven to meet God on your own? Without the coming of God, can you take yourself into heaven to enjoy family happiness with God? Are you still dreaming now? I suggest, then, that you stop dreaming, and look at who is working now, at who is now carrying out the work of saving man during the last days. If you do not, you shall never gain the truth, and shall never gain life.
Those who wish to gain life without relying on the truth spoken by Christ are the most ridiculous people on earth, and those who do not accept the way of life brought by Christ are lost in fantasy. And so I say that the people who do not accept Christ of the last days shall forever be despised by God. Christ is man’s gateway to the kingdom during the last days, which none may bypass. None may be perfected by God except through Christ. You believe in God, and so you must accept His words and obey His way. You must not just think of gaining blessings without receiving the truth, or accepting the provision of life. Christ comes during the last days so that all those who truly believe in Him may be provided with life. His work is for the sake of concluding the old age and entering the new one, and is the path that must be taken by all those who would enter the new age. If you are incapable of acknowledging Him, and instead condemn, blaspheme or even persecute Him, then you are bound to burn for eternity, and shall never enter the kingdom of God. For this Christ is Himself the expression of the Holy Spirit, the expression of God, the One whom God has entrusted to do His work on earth. And so I say that if you cannot accept all that is done by Christ of the last days, then you blaspheme the Holy Spirit. The retribution that should be suffered by those who blaspheme the Holy Spirit is self-evident to all. I also tell you that if you oppose Christ of the last days, and deny Him, then there is no one who can bear the consequences on your behalf. Furthermore, from this day onward you will not have another chance to gain the approval of God; even if you try to redeem yourself, you will never again behold the face of God. For what you oppose is not a man, what you deny is not some puny being, but Christ. Are you aware of this consequence? You have not made a small mistake, but committed a heinous crime. And so I advise everyone not to bare your fangs before the truth, or make careless criticisms, for only the truth can bring you life, and nothing except the truth can allow you to be reborn and behold the face of God.
Footnotes:
a. A piece of deadwood: a Chinese idiom, meaning “beyond help.”
124-A-2
The text containing the words of God entitled, “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life” that we just finished is the truth pertaining to the vision. What we get first from reading God’s words should be the knowledge of Christ. In what primary respect do we know Christ? Not only do we know that Christ is the incarnate God, and that Christ is the manifestation of God, but the most importantly we should be aware that, “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life,” which is what matters most. Many have understood and admitted the fact that God has become flesh, and admitted that Christ is the real God, God’s appearance to mankind—they have confirmed this as a fact. Many people are able to follow Christ, to forsake all and do their duty to Him, which is a fact; but after years have gone by, there are those out there who are still not with the truth. Theirs is an evil heart, one that does not fear God and shun evil. So what exactly is the problem? Where is the root of it? We have read these words of God, and should see the root of the problem is that these people do not have profound understanding that “Only Christ of the Last Days Can Give Man the Way of Eternal Life.” In the last days Christ came again to do the work of judgment, exactly what will be the fruits? When you have experienced the judgment before the seat of Christ, have you been made pure? Have you obtained the truth? Have you been saved? This is the fundamental question with belief in God. A lot of people, who have believed in God for many years, are still without the truth. So exactly what is the problem? Have you figured it out yet? Can these people be counted with those who actually know Christ? No, they cannot. If they do not know Christ, then are they someone who can be said to be a true believer in God? Their faith remains vague. It is almost as if they actually believe in the God of heaven. So today we will commune about the key questions in these words of God. For we believers in God, what exactly are God’s words expressed by Christ that make the truth known? If you have truly seen such a way of eternal life that Christ of the last days has given mankind, then you should be able to go in search of the truth, or at least, to accept it in part. He who is ignorant of the truth Christ has passed on to us cannot receive it, so if people have been believers in God for many years but have not gained the truth, this is a truly serious issue. We’ve finished reading this article of God’s words. Now, if I fellowship about it all the way from the beginning, then we will probably at most fellowship about one passage, and then our meeting will be over. But if the focal point of our fellowship is on the actual problems themselves, then everyone here will benefit from it to a much greater extent. So let us read now from the word of God.
Let us start at the third paragraph, “It isn’t totally correct to say that God lives in the heart of man, but neither is it completely wrong. That is because, among believers in God, there are those whose belief is true and those whose belief is false, there are those of whom God approves and those of whom He disapproves, there are those who please Him and those whom He detests, and there are those whom He makes perfect and those whom He eliminates.” There are a great many differences among believers in God; they are most certainly not equal. And God said, “It isn’t totally correct to say that God lives in the heart of man, but neither is it completely wrong,” but why did God say that? Because believers in God are not all the same, and the difference between them is, that there are some whose faith is true and others whose faith is false. There are some who God approves of and others who He does not. There are some who He delights in and others who He loathes. There are some whom He makes perfect and others who are rejected by Him. That is the key difference; if you say that God abides in the hearts of mankind, is this completely fitting? It is not accurate—at least not entirely accurate, nor is it entirely inaccurate. God abides in people’s hearts, but what kind of people? This is the crux of the question. According to God’s word, as for the difference between believers in God, first and foremost, “there are those whose belief is true and those whose belief is false,” does He abide in the hearts of those of true faith or false faith? If you say that He abides in the hearts of the true believers, then your answer is absolutely correct. In the hearts of those of false faith, there is no God, and God does not abide in the hearts of false believers. Some may ask, why does He not abide in the hearts of the false believers? A man of false faith does not truly eat and drink the word of God, he does not truly commune with God, his prayers are false, he does not fear God in his heart, and beyond that he does not respect God above all others, which is to say this kind of person does not welcome God, and so, could God ever abide in such a person’s heart? According to His disposition, God gives everyone a free will; He does not force man to do what is against his will. If a person does not welcome Him, does not like Him, does not truly believe in Him, if a person is disobedient, and does not honor God as great, or fear God, then He will not abide in the heart of such a person. In addition, nonbelievers are, in reality, enamored with evil, and are keen on Satan’s fallacies, they love negative things and could even take pleasure in all pertaining to Satan, and all pertaining to worldliness. They do not love God, nor do they love the truth that God expresses, such people are filthy and evil, and live under Satan’s domain. They are part of Satan’s minions, so they could not possibly have God in their hearts, because God is holy and pure, which means simply that God exists in a temple of purity.
Through how we are communing now, why would God not abide in the hearts of those of false faith? Well, the answer should be perfectly clear by now! But there are those out there who would say, “Man has been deeply corrupted by Satan and has corrupt disposition. Who among us has been truly sanctified? Who among us is not filthy and corrupt in some way? But all we need to do is just truly believe in Him, and God will abide in our hearts!” These words are correct. Does it not come to pass that God abides in the hearts of the true believers? It is possible for this to come to pass for the true believers, because the sin offering is effective for those who truly believe, and their guilt will not be seen by God. He who now has no real belief in God, he whose heart has no place in it for God, he who does not magnify God, and he who does not fear God nor shun evil, is a person in possession of false faith. His faith in God is nothing but lip service. He does not truly welcome God in his heart. He does not truly accept God, and so God would never abide in this man’s heart. Now, is it not a fact that God will not abide in the hearts of those of false faith? Therefore, we do not see the work of the Holy Spirit and can see even less of the blessings of God in those who do not pursue truth. And what do the blessings of God include? The work of the Holy Spirit, the leading of the Holy Spirit, the disciplining of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the Holy Spirit. A person who does not pursue the truth has none of these, and so if you cannot see the blessings of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in a person, he is most certainly not a true believer in God. We have seen those who have been eliminated or expelled from our church: They did evil and lied openly, and acted perfunctorily; they cheated God’s family and cheated God Himself, without the least sense of rebuke or the least bit of discipline; they were willful and disobedient. No matter how the house of God communicated the truths and dealt with them, it was for naught. So is this kind of person’s faith true or false? It’s false, right? So once a person is unmasked as a false believer he should be purged and eliminated, which is in complete accordance with God’s will.
Continuing on to the next part, “there are those of whom God approves and those of whom He disapproves.” And whom specifically does this approval refer to? He who truly believes in God, whose heart is true and could forsake all for God and go all out for Him. In doing his part for Him, this kind of person can receive His truth and will be able to accept how he’s dealt with and pruned, and when he undergoes God’s judgment and chastisement, he will not be passive or weak of character, but will work to conform to His truth, and likewise do all he can to do what God asks of him. Regardless of how many times he may have failed, or how many frustrations he may have suffered, he can still follow God. This is he who will meet God’s approval. Then there is he who does not pursue truth in the least, who does his part but is always trying to make a deal with God, who is constantly trying to fool God through paying lip service to Him. No matter how he is dealt with or pruned, he will never accept it, no matter how the truth is communicated he will never take it to heart, and so, this kind of person will not meet with God’s approval. This is a person who refuses to accept the truth, who does not reach for the truth; thus God cannot complete this man, and cannot gain him; and so God will disapprove this kind of man. But what is meant by “disapproval”? It means this person is a goner and should be exposed and eliminated. So this brings us full circle and I must ask again: Does God abide in the hearts of those whom He approves, or in the hearts of those whom He does not? Some among you say that God abides in the hearts of those whom He approves, which is correct. It is also said that “there are those who please Him and those whom He detests.” But whom does He delight in? Men of honesty, men who truly go all out for Him. Men of obedience to Him, and obedience to the truth. These men are the objects of the delight of God. He rejoices in these kinds of people. Pure men whose hearts are open to God, men who are honest—sometimes they may be a little ignorant, but God does not look at that, and their ignorance is easy to solve. By just understanding His truths, wisdom will happen naturally, and they will become men of principles in all dealings; these kinds of people are the ones who God delights in. You see there are some people in the family of God who are especially innocent, open and submissive; they give their obedience to the family of God, and they believe and follow everything God’s family says. Everyone looks and sees this kind of person, someone of such purity, such obedience—it is pleasing to God. Now, what kind of man displeases God? What kind of man does God loathe? We know that God rejoices in a man of honesty, integrity, purity and open-heartedness, a man who can truly go all out for God, who can obey the truth; what God hates most is certainly a deceitful, cruelly selfish, mean-spirited person who is not considerate of His will, a man who is not accepting of truth, unwilling to accept dealing and pruning. Whatever you say to this man, however you try to deal with and prune him, however you try to enlighten him, whatever you try to do; this man will always hold fast to his own fossilized ideas. What is in this man’s head? “You’re just full of advice. Thanks, but no thanks, I have my own ways of doing things. You think you’re going to make me put truth into practice? No way I would ever have anything to do with something so stupid!” So we can see that wily and conniving, deeply self-interested sort who is withdrawn and difficult to figure out, working in secret while hiding trickery and chicanery behind a straight face, is none other than the devil—old Satan itself. These kinds of people are God-loathing sorts, especially politicians and scientists. They are people who God detests the most. But whose hearts does God abide in? The hearts of honest men, upright men, not the hearts of deceitful men. We can see right through this! If anyone knows in his heart that he himself is that really deceitful sort who never tells the truth, but lies through his teeth wherever he goes, whose every word is nothing but a bald-faced lie—God will never abide in his heart.
