4. Prying Into God’s Words About When He Will Depart the Earth and His Great Work Be Done

The fourth item is that antichrists pry into God’s words about when He will depart the earth and when His great work will be done. There is not much about this in God’s words. Among these limited words, if the content is a topic of particular concern to people, no matter how inconspicuous or veiled these words are, they will find them. After finding them, they mark them with a pen, treating them as important words to read. They share and read these words to warn and comfort themselves whenever they get the chance. Of course, for antichrists, their greater concern is not so much about when God will depart the earth or when His great work will be done, but about the facts that God intends to accomplish behind these words. What antichrists most hope for in their hearts is to personally witness the grand spectacle of God departing the earth in their lifetime. This would mean that the God they have followed is the right One, they have not chosen a wrong god, nor have they chosen the wrong object of following. As these are confirmed, they believe their chances of being blessed greatly increase. Additionally, if they can witness the spectacle of God departing the earth and the spectacle of God’s great work being done within their lifetime, it means that their faith will become even more firm, and they will follow God without any misgivings. Seeing this scene would mean that their previous misgivings and incomprehension about God, and the slanders, judgments, and rejections they faced from others, would all be left behind, no longer constraining them. In one regard, antichrists are looking forward to the arrival of this day, and in another, they are watching what God is currently doing on earth, whether His work is nearly complete, whether the words He needs to speak are almost finished, whether the people following Him have true loyalty, and whether they have been made complete. Observing the people who are now following Christ, antichrists notice that most people have weak faith, often make mistakes in doing their duties, and many are frequently pruned because they revealed corrupt dispositions while doing their duties. Some are even sent off to Group B, isolated, or expelled. From these signs, they feel, “The day of god’s great work being done still seems far off, which is very frustrating! But what can one do in impatience? What problem can it solve?” Because antichrists do not believe in God’s words, do not accept the truth, lack spiritual understanding, and don’t understand the truth, they cannot measure whether the effect God’s work has on people is normal or not. They cannot wrap their heads around whether what God has done on people has indeed achieved any effect; whether God’s words can truly save and transform people; whether people, while accepting these words, have undergone change, truly gained anything, or received God’s approval; nor whether these people can enter the kingdom of heaven and receive blessings—and, they cannot understand or explain the facts they observe with their own eyes. Every event they see, every event they think about in their minds, is shrouded in fog, impossible to dispel. “These matters are all elusive and difficult to see through, difficult to comprehend. Do the events of god departing the earth and the completion of god’s great work truly exist? Can they really come true?” On one hand, antichrists force themselves to believe that the God they follow is God, but at the same time, they can’t help but doubt: “Is he god? He’s a human, isn’t he? It’s not good to think this way. Most people believe he is god, so I should too. But no, I can’t bring myself to believe it! Where can I see that he is god? Can he make god’s great work be done? Can he do god’s work? Can he represent god? Can he complete god’s plan? Can he save humankind? Can he lead people into a beautiful destination?” All of these thoughts and more like them become unresolvable, unbreakable locks in the depths of antichrists’ hearts. They think, “What should I do? Still, there’s the highest principle: Wait and endure; he who endures to the end shall be saved. Although I don’t pursue the truth, I have my own rules. If others don’t leave, I won’t leave. If others follow, I will follow. I will go with the flow. If everyone says he is god, then I’ll call him god. If everyone stops believing and rejects god, then I’ll follow suit. The law cannot be enforced when everyone is an offender, right?” When they see the expansion of God’s work reaching its climax, they secretly rejoice in their hearts: “Fortunately, I didn’t leave when I was most doubtful and weak. Look at what my faith has brought now. The day is almost here, and more and more people are following god. Especially overseas, people from various countries are investigating the true way, and the number of believers is increasing. God’s house is producing more and more videos, movies, hymns, and testimonies, attracting more attention. Such results can’t be achieved by any human; only god’s work can accomplish it. This ordinary person is most likely christ, god. Since he is christ, is god, then his words will surely come true. If his words do not come true, then he is not god. According to logical reasoning, this inference makes sense, it’s correct. If he is god, there will be a day when he departs the earth; if he is god, he can have his great work done. Judging from all these signs, the people in the church following god are moving in a positive direction, toward a good goal. Everything is quite ideal, it’s all very positive and constructive. This is better than following worldly trends; there’s no hope in pursuing those, it only leads to suffering mistreatment and ultimately destruction. If one believes in god, and they’re able to witness the day he departs the earth and his great work is done, and can share in god’s glory—what an honor that would be!” Thinking about this, they feel: “How am I so smart? I chose this path; seems I’m the one with a high IQ and a strong intellect.” They don’t attribute it to God’s grace, but to their own intelligence, their own cleverness. What a ludicrous idea this is!

Antichrists think, “The matter of god departing the earth and god’s great work being done is different from such matters as god’s promises and blessings, his curses and punishment, and his prophecies about disasters—this matter can’t be rushed; people need to have 12/10 endurance and 20/10 patience to wait for that day to come. Because when that day arrives, everything will be accomplished. If I can’t endure now, can’t bear the loneliness, and can’t stand this suffering, then I’ll be left out when that day comes. It’s the final stretch now; after suffering so much, I’d be a fool not to endure a little bit more!” So, for antichrists, there is only one way to see the arrival of that day: Wait obediently and patiently, don’t rush, and learn to endure. They think, “Since I’ve chosen to gamble, I should learn to endure, because this endurance is not a small matter. If I endure to the end, once this matter is accomplished, what I gain will be a great blessing! If I don’t endure during this period, then I will face great calamity. This matter can go one of two ways; it can either bring great blessing or great calamity.” You see, antichrists aren’t foolish, are they? They lack spiritual understanding and do not believe in the truth, they are disbelievers—but then how can they analyze this matter so accurately and in such detail? Is this kind of analysis appropriate? (No.) Tell Me, should people have such a “serious” attitude toward God’s words? Some people say: “This is a big matter, involving one’s prospects and destiny, and concerning the completion of god’s great work. It cannot be taken lightly. People must calculate the exact year and month for when god departs the earth. Moreover, the method and scene of god’s departure revealed between the lines of god’s words must be analyzed. If one does not take this seriously and analyze it thoroughly, missing such a good thing would lead to unending regret; such an event would never be seen again. Especially when god’s great work is done, and the day and the moment of god’s glorification arrive, people need to know even more.” To which someone asks, “How can we know if God doesn’t say?” “Then you must pray for god to reveal it to you in a dream, just like John in the Book of Revelation. If you receive a vision, see the day of god’s great work being done in your dream or vision, this will thoroughly strengthen your faith in an instant. Your patience, your waiting, will no longer be a formality or merely something you do; instead, you will willingly wait and endure like this from deep in your heart. That would be so great!” Is this approach acceptable? (No.)

No matter how many years humankind needs God incarnate, there will eventually come a day when His work in the flesh is completed. This means that this person will eventually leave humankind; it’s just a matter of time. The work of God’s six-thousand-year management plan is coming to an end. As for whether this end lasts ten years, twenty years, fifty years, eighty years, or a hundred years, we don’t need to delve into it. This is simply God’s way of speaking. What does it mean to say this is God’s way of speaking? It means how many years God’s concept of “the end” actually is—God’s concept of time is definitely different from that of humans. Is it useful for us to scrutinize exactly how many years it is? No, it’s not. Why not? Because all of this is in God’s hands, it’s not something humans can obtain by asking, nor something that, once people know, can be used by them to restrict God. God does as He wishes. The only thing followers of God should do is pursue the truth, do their duties well, gain life, embark upon the path of fearing God and shunning evil, and become truly qualified created beings. In this way, God’s great work will indeed be completely done, and God will rest. What does God’s rest mean? It means that humankind will have rest. Once humankind has a place of rest, God can rest. God’s rest is the rest of humankind. When humankind has a normal living environment and order, it brings rest to God. As for when humankind will have such a living environment, when they will reach this step, and when God will have His great work done and enter His place of rest, all these are within God’s plan; He has a schedule. What era this schedule of God’s plan falls into, which year, month, hour, and minute, only God Himself knows. Humans don’t need to know, and telling you is of no use. Even if you were told the exact year, month, hour, and minute, could that become your life? Is that life? It cannot replace life. The only thing created beings should do is listen to God’s words, accept God’s words, and submit to God’s words, becoming people who fear God and shun evil. But always wanting to scrutinize God’s words, to pry into whether God’s words come true, to check, analyze, and scrutinize the correctness of God’s words—these are not what created humans should do. Those who insist on walking this path and doing these things are clearly not the created beings that God wants. They don’t act according to His requirements, don’t live according to the rules and regulations God has set for people. In God’s eyes, they are enemies of God; they are devils and Satans, not the objects of God’s salvation. Therefore, regarding when God will depart the earth, when His great work will be done, and when the day of God’s glorification arrives, what should be the correct viewpoint of humankind toward these words of God and this matter? One should believe that these things God has said will surely come true, and at the same time, hope for the completion of God’s great work, for the coming of God’s kingdom, for God to appear in glory to all peoples, and for God to enter into rest early. This is what created humans, those who follow God, should hope and pray for. Doing so is proper and is not prying. However, always using whether God’s words come true as leverage to threaten God, to set conditions with God, that is called prying and it is what God’s enemies do; always deciding whether to pay the price, whether to forsake everything, and whether to do one’s duty based on whether God’s words come true is also what enemies do. True created beings should treat God’s words, God’s identity, and any part of what God says from the perspective of created beings, not from the perspective of Satan, devils, or God’s enemies.

5. Prying Into God’s Words About His Disposition, His Identity, and His Essence

The next item we will fellowship involves God’s words about His disposition, identity, and essence. These words cover a vast range; most of the content of God’s words touches upon His disposition, identity, and essence. In one regard, the manner and tone of God’s speech, as well as the content, allow people to see God’s disposition, to see His identity and essence. In another, God has clear words with which to tell humankind, to disclose to humankind His disposition, identity, and essence. As for these two parts of content, in one regard, from between the lines of God’s words, the content of God’s words, the nature of God’s words, as well as God’s tone and the audience of His speech, one can see God’s disposition, identity, and essence. In another regard, God tells people with clear words what kind of disposition He has, what kind of identity and essence He has. These two parts of content are something that antichrists fundamentally ignore; they will not apprehend God’s disposition, identity, and essence from these, and they certainly won’t believe in all of this related to God. Because they are disbelievers, they do not believe that words spoken from God’s mouth can represent God’s identity and essence. However, there is one point they cannot deny: God’s words have clearly disclosed to people what kind of disposition God has, what kind of identity God has, and what His essence is like—this part of His words they cannot deny. Just because they cannot deny it, does it mean they have true acceptance and genuine acknowledgment? They do not acknowledge these words. On the contrary, regarding the content of God’s disposition—His righteousness, holiness, love, authority, and other qualities involving His possessions and being—that God speaks of, antichrists, apart from showing contempt, disregard, and neglect, also view these words from a perspective of prying. For example, when God says He is righteous, an antichrist will then start to scrutinize: “You are righteous? There hasn’t been anyone in the world who dares to claim they are righteous. Since you dare to say it, then let’s put it to the test. In what ways are you righteous? Which deeds of yours have been righteous? I refuse to be convinced! If this statement is truly realized, if you truly perform some righteous act that makes me convinced, then I will concede that you are righteous. But if what you do leaves me unconvinced, then don’t blame me for being blunt. I absolutely will not admit that you have a righteous disposition!” Finally, the day they have been waiting for arrives: A certain leader, despite having paid a great price and suffered much, was ultimately identified as a false leader and dismissed because he was unable to do actual work. After being dismissed, he became negative, developed misunderstandings, complained, and had a lot of resentful and judgmental things to say. When this matter reaches the ears of the antichrist and is seen by them, the antichrist says, “If even someone like you can be dismissed, then it’s even worse for people like me. If you have no hope of being saved, if you are not in line with god’s intentions, then who can be in line with god’s intentions? Who else can be regarded by god?” In one regard, the antichrist defends and demands justice for the false leader; in another, they are also accepting the resentful and judgmental words issued by the false leader. At the same time, they are secretly contending with God in their heart: “Is god righteous? Then why dismiss someone who has suffered and paid a price for the work of the church? This person is the most loyal to you. I haven’t seen anyone more loyal than him; I haven’t seen anyone who has suffered more or paid a greater price. He gets up early and goes to bed late, endures illness, puts aside his feelings for his family, and puts aside fleshly comfort and the prospects of the flesh, risking his life to work for you. He has even been imprisoned before and did not betray you. And yet you dismiss him just like that, you reveal him just like that—are you really righteous? Where is the evidence of your righteousness? Why can’t I see it?” Finally, the antichrist has seized upon leverage in God’s work with which to question the righteousness of God’s disposition. They think to themselves, “If god is righteous, then most people won’t be able to get by; if god is righteous, then people really need to be careful, and life will become quite difficult. Today, having finally seized leverage in god’s work, I can prove that god is not righteous, which makes things easier.” With this, they secretly rejoice in their heart.

God’s chosen people, in following God, have always suffered suppression, arrest, and brutal persecution by the great red dragon. In churches everywhere, there are often God’s chosen people who are arrested and persecuted. Frequently, some stumble or betray God and leave the church as a result. However, there are also many who stand firm in their testimony amid arrest and persecution. God utilizes the great red dragon’s service to reveal those disbelievers who infiltrated God’s house seeking blessings, while at the same time perfecting the chosen people who genuinely believe in God. This is God’s almightiness and wisdom. But how do antichrists view this matter? They are always doubtful of God: “Why doesn’t god save his chosen people from the arrest and persecution of the great red dragon?” They doubt God incarnate, always harboring notions about God in their hearts: “Why should god’s chosen people suffer such beatings and torture? It’s because of their faith, because they are unwilling to be Judases. But where is god when they are being tortured? Why doesn’t god save them? Doesn’t god love people? Where is god’s love? Could it be that god can bear to let those who believe in him be so madly humiliated by Satan and demons, and endure excessive torture? Is this god’s love? Where exactly is god’s protection for people? Why can’t I see it? It seems I need to be more careful. Not only can god not keep people from temptation or danger—on the contrary, the more one pursues, the more one has the will, and the more one follows god, then the more they face trials, and the more likely they are to suffer pain and torment. Since this is how god acts, then I also have my countermeasures. These people suffer such treatment because they made sacrifices; if I don’t pay such a price, if I don’t pursue in this way, won’t I avoid these trials? Without these trials, won’t I avoid such suffering? Not suffering like this, won’t I live in comfort? If I receive blessings all the same, why would I be so foolish as to let my flesh suffer all kinds of torment and pain? God says he loves people, but I cannot accept this way of god’s love! You can all interpret it however you like; it’s none of my business, I won’t accept it. I need to lie low, I need to skirt around a bit, I need to be careful and on guard; I can’t let god catch me and put me to work.” Antichrists harbor these things in their hearts, all of which are misunderstandings, opposition, judgment, and resistance against God. They lack any knowledge of God’s work whatsoever. While prying into God’s words, prying into God’s disposition, identity, and essence, they come to such conclusions. Antichrists bury these things deep in their hearts, admonishing themselves: “Caution is the parent of safety; it’s best to fly under the radar; the bird that sticks its neck out is the one that gets shot; and it’s lonely at the top! No matter when, never be that bird sticking its head out, never climb too high; the higher you climb, the harder you fall.” They do not believe that the words of God are the truth, and they do not believe that His disposition is righteous and holy. They regard all this through human notions and imaginings, and they approach the work of God with human perspectives, human thoughts, and human guile, employing the logic and thinking of Satan to delineate God’s disposition, identity, and essence. Obviously, not only do antichrists neither accept nor acknowledge God’s disposition, identity, and essence; on the contrary they are full of notions, opposition, and rebelliousness toward God and have not the least shred of real knowledge of Him. Antichrists’ definition of God’s work, God’s disposition, and God’s love is a question mark—dubiousness, and they are full of skepticism and full of denial and slander for it; so what, then, of His identity? God’s disposition represents His identity; with such a regard of God’s disposition as theirs, their regard of God’s identity is self-evident—direct denial. This is the essence of antichrists.

Regardless of which part of God’s words antichrists approach, regardless of which part of God’s actions they approach, whether it is God’s actions in all things or in specific individuals, they always use human perspectives and Satan’s logic, as well as the methods of knowledge and logic, to infer and judge, instead of approaching them as the truth and in a manner of acceptance. Therefore, regarding the words about God’s disposition, identity, and essence, and regarding the flesh in which God is incarnate and God’s Spirit, the approach of antichrists is actually the same, with no difference. In general, everything that involves God Himself, everything about the Creator, is subject to their prying, and then conjecture, scrutiny, and analysis, ultimately leading to conclusions of denial and slander. No matter from which angle or in what manner antichrists approach these words of God, why are the conclusions they ultimately draw always those of condemnation and slander? Why do they end up with such conclusions? Could it really be the case that among created humankind, there isn’t anyone who can take God’s words as the truth? Is this an inevitable outcome? Is this because of God? (No.) Then what exactly is the reason? (It’s because people have a nature that resists God.) Everyone has a nature that resists God. Why is it that after reading these words, some people can recognize them as the truth and accept what God says, while others can deny, condemn, and slander them? This clearly shows a problem, indicating that the essence within people is different. Antichrists, in their treatment of God’s words, fundamentally and subjectively do not truly accept them. They come with opposition and testing: “You say you are god, then I need to see, in what ways do you resemble god? You say you possess the disposition of god and have divinity, then I need to see which of your words confirm that you possess divinity and that you have the disposition of god, what deeds of yours confirm you have the identity and essence of god. Have you performed signs and wonders, or healed the sick and cast out demons? Have you cursed someone and they died immediately? Have you raised anyone from the dead? What exactly have you done that can confirm you possess the disposition of god, the identity and essence of god?” Antichrists always want to see these things, things beyond the truth, the way, and the life, using these things to confirm God’s identity, to confirm that the One they follow is God. This starting point itself is wrong. What is the most basic thing that can represent the identity and essence of God? (God is the truth, the way, and the life.) This is the most basic thing. Why do antichrists fail to comprehend even this most basic thing? This is the topic we need to discuss. Antichrists despise the truth and positive things; they are averse to the truth and all positive things; they hate the truth and positive things. In all of God’s words, they don’t see which words are the truth or positive things. Can their demonic eyes see this? Without seeing it, can they acknowledge it? Their failure to acknowledge these words as the truth means they cannot acknowledge God’s identity and essence. This is certain. Antichrists, in approaching God’s words about His disposition, identity, and essence, use the same approach as they do with other words of God, calculating, plotting, and pondering in their minds. If something God says from His identity as God immediately comes true, their attitude changes right away; if God, as God, says something or does something that gives them leverage, they also have a corresponding countermeasure, and their attitude changes immediately again. It is they who condemn God, and also they who say God is like God. In their view, as for whether God possesses the disposition, identity, and essence of God, they come to conclusions about this entirely based on what they see with their own eyes and their own mental analysis.

In the past one or two years, the church has made some experiential testimony videos. Different people have given various experiential testimonies, which helped some people with unstable foundations and those who were somewhat doubtful to establish some foundation. Of course, for antichrists, it also played a certain role in stabilizing them. These testifying individuals come from different age groups, different social classes, and some even from different countries and ethnicities. From the experiential testimonies they shared, it’s evident they underwent changes by means of God’s words, gained the truth and life, and through accepting God’s words, through accepting this stage of God’s work, they understood many truths, confirming that the flesh in which God is incarnate possesses God’s identity and essence. Of course, after listening to these experiential testimonies, antichrists also had a bit of secret delight deep inside: “Luckily, I did not publicly judge god. Luckily, I didn’t rush to deny god. Judging from the testimonies of so many people, this way seems correct. This christ, this ordinary person, might be god after all. My bet was perhaps placed correctly. If I continue on this path, and if more people testify about this person, if more people come before this person, and if more people confirm this person’s identity and essence, then my hope and chance of receiving blessings will be greater and greater.” While hesitantly observing, antichrists are still constantly encouraging and spurring themselves on: “Don’t be in a hurry. Stay patient. You’ve just got to endure. He who endures to the end shall be saved. Judging from the current various signs, from the scale and momentum of the church now, more and more people are able to stand up and testify about this god, confirming that this way is correct. So why would I be so foolish, rushing to stand out and deny it? Don’t do that, don’t be foolish. Wait another three to five years. If more people, more prestigious and knowledgeable people, people with social status, provide stronger evidence to confirm this ordinary person as christ, or if more people with worldly renown and status join the church, and if the church’s scale expands more globally, won’t I gain something then? Won’t I then have gained a great advantage? If the church has power, won’t I have power too? I absolutely must not leave! If all of this is right, if this person truly is god, and if I now reject or deny him, then I’ll miss out on all these blessings. I have to bet everything on this person. Who he is in his identity and essence, whom his disposition represents, I don’t care about that. What concerns me is whether more and more people are following him, whether the power and scale of the church are increasing. If it develops in a good direction, and can grow even bigger in normal circumstances, then I don’t need to worry about my prospects. If he really is the flesh in which god is incarnate as prophesied in the Bible, then I will be hugely blessed, greatly advantaged.” Every time they think of this, antichrists find some comfort and joy in their hearts: “How about that? Even without believing that god’s words are the truth, I can still receive blessings. Without believing that all of god’s deeds are righteous, I can still stand firm. Without believing that god can save people, I can still survive. Without believing that god observes the innermost heart of man, I can still do my duties in the church normally. I don’t believe in god’s almightiness and authority, I don’t believe that everything god does is meaningful, and I don’t believe that god reigns sovereign over all things and the fate of all humankind—I don’t believe any of this, and what of it? I don’t believe in god’s identity and essence, yet I can still muddle along in the church. Isn’t god righteous? I’ll just muddle through, I’ll drift along in the church like this, just enduring. Who can do anything to me? Can’t I still endure to the end and certainly be saved?” What do you think, can antichrists’ wishful thinking succeed? (No.) When the day comes that they truly see God’s righteous disposition, where will they be? When they are made to truly acknowledge God’s identity and essence, to admit that God is righteous, when they are shown that God is indeed righteous, where should they be? Can they really be saved? Can their endurance truly be effective? Can they really muddle through? Can their endurance, their compromises, their steadfast enduring of hardships, their shrewd intelligence, really negate their evil deed of prying into whether God’s words come true? Can their wishful thinking, countermeasures, conspiring, plotting, and everything they have planned in their hearts, along with their prying into things concerning God, truly replace their pursuit of the truth? Can these enable them to be saved? (No.) Then, judging from these manifestations, why do antichrists, who are so shrewd and who handle all matters without leaving any loopholes, doing everything in utmost secrecy, ultimately end up like this? There is only one reason: They do not confront God’s words squarely, do not accept God’s words as the truth, do not submit to God’s words, but instead pry into God’s words. This is the reason why antichrists ultimately end up like this. You all understand this, right? Although I haven’t told you how to act or how to treat God’s words, through speaking these facts and dissecting the viewpoints of antichrists and their attitude toward God’s words, you all know what kind of attitude toward God’s words and what kind of attitude for comprehending God’s words are the most correct and the attitudes that a created being should have, and that having these attitudes is what a created being should do.

August 22, 2020