Is Obeying Those in Power the Same as Obeying God?

President Yuan (President of the Legal Education School): Xiao Jiang, I see that you are very pious in believing in God. I admire you. I would like to know more about the matter of believing in God. So I have specially invited Pastor Feng here. Pastor Feng has believed in the Lord since childhood, studied theology, and worked as pastor for more than 20 years. You are both believers of God who share a common language. You can explore it together to see which is the correct and viable path to believe in God.

Pastor Feng (A Three-Self pastor): Sister Jiang, President Yuan said that you are quite persistent in the way you believe in God, I can see it. You have endured the government’s arrest, persecution and torture for adhering to your faith, and you haven’t denied God. I admire you for this, but I also feel sorry for you. What’s the point in going through these sufferings? The Bible says, “Let every soul be subject to the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation” (Romans 13:1-2). Having believed in the Lord for many years, you should understand the meaning of this statement. The Bible was inspired by God after all. I believe that we believers of the Lord should obey those in office and power. I don’t know how you receive it.

The religious pastors and elders often preach to believers that any preaching that says the Lord has come in the flesh is false. They base this on the Bible verses: “Then if any man shall say to you, See, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Mat 24:23-24). We now have no idea how we should discern the true Christ from false ones, so please answer this question.

Answer:

The Lord Jesus did indeed foretell that there would be false Christs and false prophets in the last days. This is a fact. But the Lord Jesus also clearly prophesied many times that He would come back. Don’t we believe this? When examining the prophecies of the Lord Jesus’ return, many people give priority to being wary of false Christs and false prophets, and spare no thought to how to welcome the arrival of the Bridegroom, and how to hear the voice of the Bridegroom. What’s the issue here? Isn’t it a case of not eating for fear of choking, of being penny-wise and pound-foolish? In fact, no matter how we guard against false Christs and false prophets, if we do not welcome the return of the Lord, and we cannot be taken before God’s throne, we are foolish virgins who are eliminated and forsaken by God, and our belief in the Lord is an utter failure! Key to whether or not we can welcome the return of the Lord is whether or not we are able to hear the voice of God. As long as we recognize that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, we will have no difficulty in identifying the voice of God. If we can’t discern what is the truth, and only focus on the signs and wonders, then we will surely be deceived by false Christs and false prophets. If we do not seek and examine the true way, then we will never be able to hear the voice of God. Are we not waiting for death, and bringing about our own destruction? We believe in the words of the Lord: God’s sheep hear the voice of God. Those who truly have brains, and caliber, and can hear the voice of God will not be deceived by false Christs and false prophets. For false Christs and false prophets are without the truth, and unable to do the work of God. This is not something we need to be concerned about. Only those who are confused and brainless can be deceived by false Christs and false prophets. The clever virgins will not be deceived by false Christs and false prophets, because they have God’s care and protection. When God made man, the clever virgins were given the spirit of man and able to hear the voice of God. So God’s sheep hear His voice, which is ordained by God. Only foolish virgins devote themselves to guarding against false Christs and false prophets, and neglect to seek and examine the Lord’s return. If we wish to welcome the return of the Lord, and not be deceived by false Christs and false prophets, then we must understand how false Christs deceive people. Actually, the Lord Jesus has already told us about the deceitful practices of false Christs and false prophets. The Lord Jesus said: “For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show great signs and wonders; so that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect” (Mat 24:24). The words of the Lord Jesus show us that false Christs and false prophets mainly rely on performing signs and wonders to deceive God’s chosen people. This is the primary manifestation of false Christs’ and false prophets’ deception of people. In this, we must understand why false Christs and false prophets use the signs and wonders to deceive people. Above all, it is because false Christs and false prophets are utterly devoid of the truth. In nature and substance, they are extremely wicked evil spirits. So they have to rely on signs and wonders to deceive people. If false Christs and false prophets were possessed of the truth, they wouldn’t use signs and wonders to deceive people. Looked at in this way, false Christs and false prophets perform signs and wonders because that’s all they can do. If we can’t see this, then it will be extremely easy for them to deceive us. Only Christ is the truth, the way, and the life. The One who can express the truth, and show mankind the way, and give them the life is the One who is Christ. Those who are incapable of expressing the truth are surely false Christs, they’re fakes. This is the basic principle of identifying false Christs and false prophets. All those who seek and examine the true way should abide by this principle to seek and ascertain the voice of God, and in this they do no wrong.

You testify that God has incarnated and become the Son of man to do the work of judgment in the last days, and yet the majority of religious pastors and elders affirm that the Lord will return coming with clouds, and they base this primarily on the Bible verses: “This same Jesus … shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven” (Act 1:11). “Behold, he comes with clouds; and every eye shall see him” (Rev 1:7). And furthermore, the religious pastors and elders also instruct us that any Lord Jesus who does not come with clouds is false and must be abandoned. So we’re not sure whether or not this view conforms to the Bible; is it correct to take this as truth or not?

Answer:

When it comes to waiting for the Lord to descend with the clouds, we must not rely on man’s notions and imaginations! The Pharisees committed a huge mistake in waiting for the arrival of the Messiah. They precisely used man’s notions and imaginations to measure the Lord Jesus who had already arrived. In the end, they nailed the Lord Jesus to the cross. Is this not a fact? Is waiting for the Lord’s arrival as simple as we think? If the Lord returns and works among mankind like the way the Lord Jesus in the flesh had done, and none of us recognizes Him, then would we also judge and condemn Him as the Pharisees had done and crucify Him once again? Is this a possibility? The Lord Jesus prophesied that He shall return and said many words about it, but we only hold on to the prophecy that the Lord will descend with the clouds and don’t seek or investigate other more important prophecies spoken by the Lord. This makes it easy to walk down the wrong path and be abandoned by the Lord! There is actually not just the “descend with the clouds” prophecy in the Bible. There are also many prophecies like that the Lord will come as a thief and descend secretly. For instance, Revelation 16:15, “Behold, I come as a thief.” Matthew 25:6, “And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom comes; go you out to meet him.” And Revelation 3:20, “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.” All these prophecies refer to God becoming flesh as the Son of man and descending in secret. “As a thief” means coming quietly, secretly. We won’t know He is God even if we see or hear Him, just as it was back when the Lord Jesus appeared and performed His work during His incarnation as the Son of man. From the outside, the Lord Jesus was just an ordinary Son of man and nobody knew He is God, which is why the Lord Jesus used “as a thief” as an analogy for the Son of man’s appearance and work. This is too befitting! Those who do not love the truth, no matter how God in the flesh speaks or works, or how many truths He expresses, they do not accept. Instead, they treat God in the flesh as a normal person and condemn and abandon Him. That is why the Lord Jesus prophesied that when He returns: “For as the lightning, that lightens out of the one part under heaven, shines to the other part under heaven; so shall also the Son of man be in his day. But first must he suffer many things, and be rejected of this generation” (Luk 17:24-25). Based on the Lord’s prophecy, His return shall be “the coming of the Son of man.” “Son of man” refers to God in the flesh, not the spiritual body of the resurrected Lord Jesus descending with the clouds to openly appear before all people. Why is that the case? Let’s think about it. If it were the spiritual body of the resurrected Lord Jesus descending publicly with the clouds, it would be incredibly powerful and shock the world. Everyone would drop to the ground and no one would dare resist. In that case, would the returned Lord Jesus still endure a lot of suffering and be rejected by this generation? Definitely not. That is why the Lord Jesus prophesied that His return shall be “the coming of the Son of man” and “as a thief.” In actuality, it is referring to God incarnated as the Son of man arriving in secret.

Living abroad, we are quite busy with our work and with things at home and sometimes we don’t have time to read God’s words or attend meetings. I feel that this is not putting God first, however, and I feel in my heart that I owe God. I’d like to ask how we can find a better balance between our work, our families and seeking the truth?

Bible Verses for Reference:

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mak 8:36-37).

And he said to his disciples, Therefore I say to you, Take no thought for your life, what you shall eat; neither for the body, what you shall put on. The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment (Luk 12:22-23).

Relevant Words of God:

Awaken, brothers! Awaken, sisters! My day will not be delayed; time is life, and to seize time is to save life! The time is not far off! If you take exams for entrance into college and you do not pass, you can try again and cram for the test. However, My day will have no such delay. Remember! Remember! I urge you with these good words. The end of the world unfolds before your very eyes, great disasters rapidly draw near; is your life important or is your sleeping, eating, and clothing important? The time has come for you to weigh these things.

from “The Thirtieth Utterance” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

How should people experience God’s judgment and chastisement in order to be saved?

Relevant Words of God:

True faith in God means experiencing the words and work of God based on a belief that God holds sovereignty over all things. So you shall be freed of your corrupt disposition, shall fulfill the desire of God, and shall come to know God. Only through such a journey can you be said to believe in God.

from Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh

The current process of speaking is the process of conquering. How exactly should people cooperate? By eating and drinking these words effectively and understanding them. People cannot become conquered by themselves. They must, from eating and drinking these words, come to know their corruption and filth, their rebelliousness and unrighteousness, and fall down before God. If you can understand God’s will and then put it into practice and, further, have the vision, and if you can completely obey these words and not exercise any of your own choices, then you will have been conquered. And it will be these words that have conquered you.

from “The Inside Truth of the Conquering Work (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh