Daily Words of God  Excerpt 141

To know God’s work in these times is, for the most part, to know what the principal ministry of God incarnate is in the last days, and what He has come to do on earth. I have previously mentioned in My words that God has come to earth (during the last days) to set an exemplar before departing. How does God set this exemplar? He does so by speaking words, and by working and speaking throughout the land. This is God’s work during the last days; He only speaks, to make the earth a world of words, so that every person is provided for and enlightened by His words, and so that man’s spirit is awakened and he gains clarity about the visions. During the last days, God incarnate has come to earth chiefly in order to speak words. When Jesus came, He spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and He accomplished the work of redemption of the crucifixion. He brought an end to the Age of Law and abolished all that was old. The arrival of Jesus ended the Age of Law and ushered in the Age of Grace; the arrival of God incarnate of the last days has brought an end to the Age of Grace. He has come chiefly to speak His words, to use words to make man perfect, to illuminate and enlighten man, and to remove the place of the vague God within man’s heart. This is not the stage of work that Jesus did when He came. When Jesus came, He performed many miracles, He healed the sick and cast out demons, and He did the work of redemption of the crucifixion. As a consequence, in people’s notions, they believe that this is how God should be. For when Jesus came, He did not do the work of removing the image of the vague God from man’s heart; when He came, He was crucified, He healed the sick and cast out demons, and He spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. In one regard, the incarnation of God during the last days removes the place held by the vague God in the notions of man, so that there is no longer the image of the vague God in man’s heart. Through His actual words and actual work, His movement across all lands, and the exceptionally real and normal work that He does among man, He causes man to know the reality of God, and removes the place of the vague God in man’s heart. In another regard, God uses the words spoken by His flesh to make man complete, and to accomplish all things. This is the work that God will accomplish during the last days.

What you must know:

1. The work of God is not supernatural, and you should not harbor notions about it.

2. You must understand the principal work that God incarnate has come to do this time.

He has not come to heal the sick, or to cast out demons, or to perform miracles, and He has not come to spread the gospel of repentance, or to grant man redemption. That is because Jesus has already done this work, and God does not repeat the same work. Today, God has come to bring an end to the Age of Grace and cast out all the practices of the Age of Grace. The practical God has come chiefly to show that He is real. When Jesus came, He spoke few words; He primarily displayed miracles, performed signs and wonders, and healed the sick and cast out demons, or else He spoke prophecies in order to convince people and make them see that He really was God, and that He was a dispassionate God. Ultimately, He completed the work of the crucifixion. The God of today does not display signs and wonders, nor does He heal the sick and cast out demons. When Jesus came, the work He did represented one part of God, but this time God has come to do the stage of work that is due, for God does not repeat the same work; He is the God that is always new and never old, and so all that you see today is the words and work of the practical God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Knowing God’s Work Today

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 142

God incarnate of the last days has come chiefly in order to speak His words, to explain all that is necessary to the life of man, to point out that which man should enter into, to show man the deeds of God, and to show man the wisdom, omnipotence, and wondrousness of God. Through the many ways in which God speaks, man beholds the supremacy of God, the magnitude of God, and, moreover, the humility and hiddenness of God. Man sees that God is supreme, but that He is humble and hidden, and can become the least of all. Some of His words are spoken directly from the perspective of the Spirit, some directly from the perspective of man, and some from a third person perspective. In this, it can be seen that the manner of God’s work varies greatly, and it is through words that He allows man to see it. God’s work during the last days is both normal and real, and thus the group of people in the last days is subjected to the greatest of all trials. Because of the normality and reality of God, all people have entered amid such trials; that man has descended into the trials of God is because of the normality and reality of God. During the age of Jesus, there were no notions or trials. Because most of the work done by Jesus accorded with man’s notions, people followed Him, and they had no notions about Him. The trials of today are the greatest ever faced by man, and when it is said that these people have come out of the great tribulation, this is the tribulation that is referred to. Today, God speaks to engender faith, love, acceptance of suffering, and obedience in these people. The words spoken by God incarnate of the last days are spoken in accordance with the nature and essence of man, the behavior of man, and that which man should enter into today. His words are both real and normal: He does not speak of tomorrow, nor does He look back on yesterday; He speaks only of that which should be entered into, put into practice, and understood today. If, during the present day, there is to emerge a person who is able to display signs and wonders, cast out demons, heal the sick, and perform many miracles, and if this person claims that they are Jesus who has come, then this would be a counterfeit produced by evil spirits which imitate Jesus. Remember this! God does not repeat the same work. Jesus’ stage of work has already been completed, and God will never again undertake that stage of work. The work of God is irreconcilable with the notions of man; for example, the Old Testament foretold the coming of a Messiah, and the result of this prophecy was Jesus’ coming. This having already happened, it would be wrong for another Messiah to come again. Jesus has already come once, and it would be wrong if Jesus were to come again this time. There is one name for every age, and each name contains a characterization of that age. In the notions of man, God must always display signs and wonders, must always heal the sick and cast out demons, and must always be just like Jesus. Yet this time, God is not like that at all. If, during the last days, God still displayed signs and wonders, and still cast out demons and healed the sick—if He did exactly the same as Jesus—then God would be repeating the same work, and the work of Jesus would have no significance or value. Thus, God carries out one stage of work in every age. Once each stage of His work has been completed, it is soon imitated by evil spirits, and after Satan begins to follow on the heels of God, God changes to a different method. Once God has completed a stage of His work, it is imitated by evil spirits. You must be clear about this. Why is the work of God today different to the work of Jesus? Why does God today not display signs and wonders, not cast out demons, and not heal the sick? If Jesus’ work were the same as the work done during the Age of Law, could He have represented the God of the Age of Grace? Could He have completed the work of the crucifixion? If, as in the Age of Law, Jesus had entered into the temple and kept the Sabbath, then He would have been persecuted by none and embraced by all. If that were so, could He have been crucified? Could He have completed the work of redemption? What would be the point if God incarnate of the last days displayed signs and wonders, like Jesus did? Only if God does another part of His work during the last days, one that represents part of His management plan, can man gain a deeper knowledge of God, and only then can God’s management plan be completed.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Knowing God’s Work Today

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 143

During the last days, God has come chiefly in order to speak His words. He speaks from the perspective of the Spirit, from the perspective of man, and from a third person perspective; He speaks in different ways, using one way for a period of time, and He uses the method of speaking to change the notions of man and remove the image of the vague God from man’s heart. This is the main work done by God. Because man believes that God has come to heal the sick, to cast out demons, to perform miracles, and to bestow material blessings upon man, God carries out this stage of work—the work of chastisement and judgment—in order to remove such things from the notions of man, so that man may know the reality and normality of God, and so that the image of Jesus may be removed from his heart and replaced by a new image of God. As soon as the image of God within man becomes old, then it becomes an idol. When Jesus came and carried out that stage of work, He did not represent the entirety of God. He performed some signs and wonders, spoke some words, and was ultimately crucified. He represented one part of God. He could not represent all that is of God, but rather He represented God in doing one part of God’s work. That is because God is so great, and so wondrous, and He is unfathomable, and because God only does one part of His work in every age. The work done by God during this age is chiefly the provision of the words for the life of man, the exposure of man’s nature, essence, and his corrupt disposition, and the elimination of religious notions, feudal thinking, and outdated thinking; the knowledge and culture of man must be cleansed through being exposed by God’s words. In the last days, God uses words, not signs and wonders, to make man perfect. He uses His words to expose man, to judge man, to chastise man, and to make man perfect, so that in the words of God, man comes to see the wisdom and loveliness of God, and comes to understand the disposition of God, and so that through the words of God, man beholds the deeds of God. During the Age of Law, Jehovah led Moses out of Egypt with His words, and spoke some words to the Israelites; at that time, part of the deeds of God were made plain, but because the caliber of man was limited and nothing could make his knowledge complete, God continued to speak and work. In the Age of Grace, man once more saw part of the deeds of God. Jesus was able to show signs and wonders, to heal the sick and cast out demons, and be crucified, three days after which He was resurrected and appeared in the flesh before man. Of God, man knew no more than this. Man knows as much as is shown to him by God, and if God were to show nothing more to man, then such would be the extent of man’s delimitation of God. Thus, God continues to work, so that man’s knowledge of Him may become deeper, and so that man may gradually come to know the essence of God. In the last days, God uses His words to make man perfect. Your corrupt disposition is disclosed by the words of God, and your religious notions are replaced by the reality of God. God incarnate of the last days has chiefly come to fulfill the words “the Word becomes flesh, the Word comes into the flesh, and the Word appears in the flesh,” and if you do not have a thorough knowledge of this, then you will be unable to stand fast. During the last days, God primarily intends to accomplish a stage of work in which the Word appears in the flesh, and this is one part of God’s management plan. Thus, your knowledge must be clear; regardless of how God works, God does not allow man to delimit Him. If God did not do this work during the last days, then man’s knowledge of Him could go no further. You would only know that God can be crucified and can destroy Sodom, and that Jesus can be raised from the dead and appear to Peter…. But you would never say that God’s words can accomplish all, and can conquer man. Only through experiencing God’s words can you speak of such knowledge, and the more of God’s work that you experience, the more thorough your knowledge of Him will become. Only then will you cease to delimit God within your own notions. Man comes to know God by experiencing His work; there is no other correct way to know God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Knowing God’s Work Today

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 144

Today, it should be clear to all of you that, in the last days, it is principally the fact of “the Word becomes flesh” that is accomplished by God. Through His actual work on earth, He causes man to know Him and to engage with Him, and to see His actual deeds. He causes man to clearly see that He is able to display signs and wonders and that there are also times when He is unable to do so; this depends on the age. From this, you can see that God is not incapable of displaying signs and wonders, but instead changes His way of working according to the work to be done and according to the age. In the current stage of work, He does not show signs and wonders; that He showed some signs and wonders in the age of Jesus was because His work in that age was different. God does not do that work today, and some people believe Him incapable of displaying signs and wonders, or else they think that if He does not display signs and wonders, then He is not God. Is that not a fallacy? God is able to display signs and wonders, but He is working in a different age, and so He does not do such work. Because this is a different age, and because this is a different stage of God’s work, the deeds made plain by God are also different. Man’s belief in God is not the belief in signs and wonders, nor the belief in miracles, but the belief in His real work during the new age. Man comes to know God through the manner in which God works, and this knowledge produces in man the belief in God, which is to say, the belief in the work and deeds of God. In this stage of work, God mainly speaks. Do not wait to see signs and wonders; you will not see any! This is because you were not born during the Age of Grace. If you had been, you could have seen signs and wonders, but you were born during the last days, and so you can see only the reality and normality of God. Do not expect to see the supernatural Jesus during the last days. You are only able to see the practical God incarnate, who is no different from any normal human being. In each age, God makes plain different deeds. In each age, He makes plain part of the deeds of God, and the work of each age represents one part of the disposition of God, and one part of the deeds of God. The deeds that He makes plain vary with the age in which He works, but they all give man a knowledge of God that is deeper, a belief in God that is truer and more down-to-earth. Man believes in God because of all of the deeds of God, because God is so wondrous, so great, because He is almighty and unfathomable. If you believe in God because He is able to perform signs and wonders and can heal the sick and cast out demons, then your view is wrong, and some people will say to you, “Are not evil spirits also able to do such things?” Does this not constitute confusing the image of God with the image of Satan? Today, man’s belief in God is because of His many deeds and the great amount of work He does and the many ways in which He speaks. God uses His utterances to conquer man and make him perfect. Man believes in God because of His many deeds, not because He is able to show signs and wonders; people only get to know God by witnessing His deeds. Only by knowing the actual deeds of God, how He works, what wise methods He uses, how He speaks, and how He makes man perfect—only by knowing these aspects—can you comprehend the reality of God and understand His disposition, knowing what He likes, what He loathes, and how He works upon man. By understanding the likes and dislikes of God, you can differentiate between that which is positive and negative, and through your knowledge of God there is progress in your life. In short, you must gain a knowledge of God’s work, and you must put straight your views about believing in God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Knowing God’s Work Today

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 145

Regardless of how you pursue, you must, above all else, understand the work that God does today, and you must know the significance of this work. You must understand and know what work God brings when He comes in the last days, what disposition He brings, and what will be made complete in man. If you do not know or understand the work that He has come to do in the flesh, then how can you grasp His will, and how can you become His intimate? In fact, being the intimate of God is not complicated, but neither is it simple. If people can understand it thoroughly and put it into practice, then it becomes uncomplicated; if people cannot understand it thoroughly, then it becomes a lot harder, and, furthermore, they become prone to having their pursuit lead them into vagueness. If, in the pursuit of God, people do not have their own position to stand by, and do not know what truth they should hold to, then this means that they have no foundation, and so it becomes difficult for them to stand firm. Today, there are so many who do not understand the truth, who cannot distinguish between good and evil or tell what to love or hate. Such people can hardly stand firm. Key to the belief in God is being able to put the truth into practice, to care for God’s will, to know God’s work on man when He comes in the flesh and the principles by which He speaks. Do not follow the masses. You must have principles in what you should enter into, and you must hold to them. Holding firm to those things within you that are brought by God’s enlightenment will be of help to you. If you do not, today you will veer one way, tomorrow you will veer the other, and you will never gain anything real. To be like this is of no benefit to your own life. Those who do not understand the truth always follow others: If people say that this is the work of the Holy Spirit, then you, too, say it is the work of the Holy Spirit; if people say it is the work of an evil spirit, then you, too, become doubtful, or also say it is the work of an evil spirit. You always parrot the words of others, and are incapable of distinguishing anything by yourself, nor are you able to think for yourself. This is someone without a position, who is unable to differentiate—such a person is a worthless wretch! You always repeat the words of others: Today it is said that this is the work of the Holy Spirit, but there is a probability that one day someone will say it is not the work of the Holy Spirit, and that it is in fact nothing but the deeds of man—yet you cannot discern this, and when you witness it being said by others, you say the same thing. It is actually the work of the Holy Spirit, but you say it is the work of man; have you not become one of those who blaspheme against the work of the Holy Spirit? In this, have you not opposed God because you cannot differentiate? Perhaps one day some fool will appear who says that “this is the work of an evil spirit,” and when you hear these words you will be at a loss, and once again you will be bound up by the words of others. Every time someone stirs up disturbance, you are incapable of standing by your position, and this is all because you do not possess the truth. Believing in God and seeking to know God is no simple matter. These things cannot be achieved simply by gathering together and listening to preaching, and you cannot be perfected by passion alone. You must experience, and know, and be principled in your actions, and gain the work of the Holy Spirit. When you have undergone experiences, you will be able to discern many things—you will be able to distinguish between good and evil, between righteousness and wickedness, between what is of flesh and blood and what is of the truth. You should be able to distinguish between all these things, and in so doing, no matter the circumstances, you will never be lost. Only this is your real stature.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Those Who Know God and His Work Can Satisfy God

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 146

Knowing the work of God is no simple matter. You should have standards and an objective in your pursuit, you should know how to seek the true way, how to measure whether or not it is the true way, and whether or not it is the work of God. What is the most basic principle in seeking the true way? You have to look at whether or not there is the work of the Holy Spirit in this way, whether or not these words are the expression of the truth, who is testified to, and what it can bring you. Distinguishing between the true way and the false way requires several aspects of basic knowledge, the most fundamental of which is to tell whether or not the work of the Holy Spirit is present therein. For the essence of people’s belief in God is the belief in the Spirit of God, and even their belief in God incarnate is because this flesh is the embodiment of the Spirit of God, which means that such belief is still belief in the Spirit. There are differences between the Spirit and the flesh, but because this flesh comes from the Spirit, and is the Word become flesh, thus what man believes in is still the inherent essence of God. So, in distinguishing whether or not it is the true way, above all you must look at whether or not it has the work of the Holy Spirit, after which you must look at whether or not there is truth in this way. The truth is the life disposition of normal humanity, which is to say, that which was required of man when God created him in the beginning, namely, normal humanity in its entirety (including human sense, insight, wisdom, and the basic knowledge of being man). That is, you need to look at whether or not this way can lead people into a life of normal humanity, whether or not the truth that is spoken of is required according to the reality of normal humanity, whether or not this truth is practical and real, and whether or not it is most timely. If there is truth, then it is able to lead people into normal and real experiences; people, furthermore, become ever more normal, their human sense becomes ever more complete, their life in the flesh and the spiritual life become ever more orderly, and their emotions become ever more normal. This is the second principle. There is one other principle, which is whether or not people have an increasing knowledge of God, and whether or not experiencing such work and truth can inspire a love of God in them and bring them ever closer to God. In this it can be measured whether or not this way is the true way. Most fundamental is whether this way is realistic rather than supernatural, and whether or not it is able to provide for the life of man. If it conforms to these principles, the conclusion can be drawn that this way is the true way. I say these words not to make you accept other ways in your future experiences, nor as a prediction that there will be the work of another new age in the future. I say them so that you may be certain that the way of today is the true way, so that you will not only be partially sure in your belief in the work of today and unable to gain insight into it. There are even many who, despite being certain, still follow in confusion; such certainty has no principle to it, and such people must be cast out sooner or later. Even those who are especially ardent in their following are three parts sure and five parts unsure, which shows that they have no foundation. Because your caliber is too poor and your foundation too shallow, you have no understanding of differentiation. God does not repeat His work, He does not do work that is not realistic, He does not make excessive requirements of man, and He does not do work that is beyond the sense of man. All the work He does is within the scope of man’s normal sense, and does not exceed the sense of normal humanity, and His work is done according to man’s normal requirements. If it is the work of the Holy Spirit, people become ever more normal, and their humanity becomes ever more normal. People gain an increasing knowledge of their corrupt satanic disposition, and of the substance of man, and they also gain an ever greater longing for the truth. That is to say, the life of man grows and grows, and the corrupt disposition of man becomes more and more capable of change—all of which is the meaning of God becoming the life of man. If a way is incapable of revealing those things that are the substance of man, is incapable of changing the disposition of man, and, moreover, is incapable of bringing people before God or giving them a true understanding of God, and even causes their humanity to become ever more lowly and their sense ever more abnormal, then this way must not be the true way, and it may be the work of an evil spirit, or the old way. In short, it cannot be the present work of the Holy Spirit. You have believed in God for all these years, yet you have no inkling of the principles for differentiating between the true way and the false way, or for seeking the true way. Most people are not even interested in these matters; they merely go where the majority go, and repeat what the majority say. How is this someone who seeks the true way? And how can such people find the true way? If you grasp these several key principles, then whatever happens, you will not be deceived. Today, it is crucial that people be able to make distinctions; this is what should be possessed by normal humanity, and this is what people must possess in their experience. If, even today, people still distinguish nothing in the process of following, and if their human sense still has not grown, then people are too foolish, and their pursuit is mistaken and deviated. There is not the slightest differentiation in your pursuit today, and while it is true, as you say, that you have found the true way, have you gained it? Have you been able to distinguish anything? What is the essence of the true way? In the true way, you have not gained the true way; you have not gained anything of the truth. This is to say, you have not achieved that which God requires of you, and thus there has been no change in your corruption. If you continue to pursue in this way, you will ultimately be cast out. Having followed to this day, you should be certain that the way that you have taken is the right way, and should have no further doubts. Many people are always uncertain and stop pursuing the truth because of some small matters. Such people are those who have no knowledge of God’s work; they are those who follow God in confusion. People who do not know God’s work are incapable of being His intimates, or of bearing testimony to Him. I advise those who only seek blessings and only pursue that which is vague and abstract to pursue the truth as soon as possible, so that their life may have meaning. Do not fool yourselves anymore!

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Those Who Know God and His Work Can Satisfy God

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 147

The entirety of the work carried out over six thousand years has gradually changed as different eras have come and gone. The shifts in this work have been based on the world’s overall situation and on the developmental trends of humanity as a whole; the work of management has only gradually changed accordingly. It was not all planned out from the beginning of creation. Before the world was created, or very soon thereafter, Jehovah had not yet planned the first stage of work, that of law; the second stage of work, that of grace; or the third stage of work, that of conquest, in which He would first begin with some of the descendants of Moab, and through this conquer the entire universe. After creating the world, He never spoke these words, nor did He ever speak them after Moab; indeed, prior to Lot, He never uttered them. All of God’s work is done spontaneously. This is exactly how His entire six-thousand-year work of management has developed; by no means had He, before creating the world, written out such a plan in the form of something like a “Summary Chart for Humanity’s Development.” In God’s work, He expresses what He is directly; He does not rack His brains to formulate a plan. Of course, quite a few prophets have spoken a great many prophecies, but it still cannot be said that God’s work has always been one of precise planning; those prophecies were made according to God’s work at that time. All the work He does is the most actual work. He carries it out in accordance with the development of each era, and bases it on how things change. For Him, carrying out work is akin to suiting the medicine to the illness; while doing His work, He observes, and continues His work according to His observations. In every stage of His work, God is capable of expressing His ample wisdom and ability; He reveals His abundant wisdom and authority according to the work of any particular age, and allows all of those people brought back by Him during that age to see His entire disposition. He provides for people’s needs in accordance with the work that needs to be done in each age, doing whatever work He should do. He supplies people with what they need based on the degree to which Satan has corrupted them. It is like how, when Jehovah initially created Adam and Eve, He did it to enable them to manifest God upon the earth and so that they could bear God’s witness among creation. However, Eve sinned after being tempted by the serpent, and Adam did the same; in the garden, they both ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Thus, Jehovah had additional work to perform on them. Seeing their nakedness, He covered their bodies with clothing made from animal hides. Afterward, He said to Adam, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, You shall not eat of it: cursed is the ground for your sake … till you return to the ground; for out of it were you taken: for dust you are, and to dust shall you return.” To the woman He said, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in sorrow you shall bring forth children; and your desire shall be to your husband, and he shall rule over you.” From then on, He banished them from the Garden of Eden and made them live outside of it, just as modern man now lives upon the earth. When God created man in the very beginning, it was not His plan to let man be tempted by the serpent after being created and then to curse man and the serpent. He had not actually had such a plan; it was simply the way things developed that gave Him new work to do among His creation. After Jehovah had carried out this work among Adam and Eve upon the earth, humanity continued to develop for several thousand years, until “Jehovah saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented Jehovah that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart. … But Noah found grace in the eyes of Jehovah.” At this time Jehovah had more new work to do, for the humanity He had created had grown too sinful after being tempted by the serpent. Given these circumstances, among all of humanity, Jehovah selected Noah’s family to be spared, and then He carried out His work of destroying the world with a flood. Humanity has continued to develop in this manner to this very day, growing increasingly corrupt, and when the time comes that human development reaches its pinnacle, it will spell humanity’s end. From the very beginning right up until the end of the world, the inside truth of His work has always been and always will be this way. It is the same as how people will be classed according to their kind; it is far from the case that each and every person is predestined in the very beginning to belong to a certain category; rather, everyone is gradually categorized only after undergoing a process of development. In the end, anyone who cannot be brought complete salvation will be returned to their “ancestors.” None of God’s work among humanity had already been prepared upon the creation of the world; rather, it is the development of things that has allowed God to perform His work among humanity step by step and in a more realistic and practical manner. For example, Jehovah God did not create the serpent in order to tempt the woman; that was not His specific plan, nor was it something that He had intentionally predestined. One could say that this was an unexpected occurrence. Thus, it was because of this that Jehovah expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden and vowed to never again create man. However, people only discover God’s wisdom upon this foundation. It is just as I said earlier: “I exercise My wisdom based upon Satan’s plots.” No matter how corrupt humanity grows or how the serpent tempts them, Jehovah still has His wisdom; as such, He has been engaged in new work ever since He created the world, and none of the steps of this work has ever been repeated. Satan has continuously put plots into motion, humanity has constantly been corrupted by Satan, and Jehovah God has unceasingly carried out His wise work. He has never failed, nor has He ever stopped working, ever since the world was created. After humans were corrupted by Satan, He has kept working amongst them to defeat it, the enemy that was the source of their corruption. This battle has raged since the beginning, and will continue until the world’s end. In doing all this work, Jehovah God has not only allowed humans, who have been corrupted by Satan, to receive His great salvation, but also allowed them to see His wisdom, almightiness, and authority. Furthermore, in the end, He will let them see His righteous disposition—punishing the wicked and rewarding the good. He has battled Satan to this very day and has never been defeated. This is because He is a wise God, and He exercises His wisdom based upon Satan’s plots. Therefore, God not only makes everything in heaven submit to His authority, but He also has everything upon earth rest below His footstool and, not least, He makes the wicked who invade and harass humanity fall within His chastisement. The results of all this work are brought about because of His wisdom. He had never revealed His wisdom prior to the existence of humanity, for He had no enemies in heaven, upon earth, or anywhere in the entire universe, and there were no dark forces invading anything among nature. After the archangel betrayed Him, He created humanity upon the earth, and it was because of humanity that He formally began His millennia-long war with Satan, the archangel—a war that grows more heated with every successive stage. His almightiness and wisdom are present in each of these stages. Only then has everything in heaven and upon earth witnessed God’s wisdom, almightiness, and, in particular, God’s reality. He still carries out His work in this same realistic manner to this day; in addition, as He carries out His work, He also reveals His wisdom and almightiness. He allows you to see the inside truth of each stage of work, to see exactly how to explain God’s almightiness, and, moreover, to see a definitive explanation of God’s reality.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 148

The Holy Spirit’s work is always done spontaneously; He can plan His work at any time, and carry it out at any time. Why do I always say that the work of the Holy Spirit is realistic, and that it is always new, never old, and always fresh to the highest degree? His work had not already been planned when the world was created; that is not at all what happened! Every step of work attains its proper effect for its respective time, and the steps do not interfere with one another. A lot of the time, the plans you might have in mind are simply no match for the Holy Spirit’s latest work. His work is not as simple as man reasons it to be, nor is it as complex as man imagines—it consists of supplying people at any time and any place in accordance with their needs at the time. No one is clearer about the essence of humans than He is, and it is precisely for this reason that nothing can suit people’s realistic needs as well as His work does. Therefore, from a human perspective, His work seems to have been planned several millennia in advance. As He works among you now, all the while working and speaking as He watches the states you are in, He has just the right words to say upon encountering each and every sort of state, speaking words that are precisely what people need. Take the first step of His work: the time of chastisement. After that, God conducted His work based on what people manifested, their rebelliousness, the positive states that emerged from them and the negative states, as well as the lowest limit to which people could fall when those negative states reached a certain point; and He seized upon these things to achieve a much better result from His work. That is, He does sustaining work among people based on whatever their current state is at any given time; He carries out every step of His work according to people’s actual states. All of creation is in His hands; how could He not know them? God carries out the next step of work that should be done, anytime and anywhere, in accordance with people’s states. By no means was this work planned thousands of years beforehand; that is a human notion! He works as He observes the effects of His work, and His work continuously deepens and develops; each time, after observing the results of His work, He implements the next step of His work. He uses many things to transition gradually and to make His new work visible to people over time. This manner of working can provide for people’s needs, for God knows people all too well. This is how He carries out His work from heaven. Likewise, God incarnate does His work in the same way, making arrangements and working among humans according to actual circumstances. None of His work had been arranged before the world was created, nor had it been meticulously planned beforehand. Two thousand years after the world was created, Jehovah saw that humanity had become so corrupt that He used the mouth of the prophet Isaiah to foretell that, after the Age of Law had ended, Jehovah would carry out His work of redeeming humanity in the Age of Grace. This was Jehovah’s plan, of course, but this plan was also made according to the circumstances He was observing at the time; He certainly did not think of it immediately after having created Adam. Isaiah merely voiced a prophecy, but Jehovah had not made advance preparations for this work during the Age of Law; rather, He put it into motion at the beginning of the Age of Grace, when the messenger appeared in Joseph’s dream to enlighten him with the message that God would become flesh, and only then did His work of incarnation begin. God had not, as people imagine, prepared for His work of incarnation right after creating the world; it was only decided based on the degree to which humanity had developed and the status of His war against Satan.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 149

When God becomes flesh, His Spirit descends upon a man; in other words, the Spirit of God clothes Himself with a physical body. He comes to do His work upon the earth not to bring with Him certain limited steps; His work is absolutely unlimited. The work that the Holy Spirit does in the flesh is still determined by the results of His work, and He uses such things to determine the length of time for which He will do work while in the flesh. The Holy Spirit directly reveals each step of His work, examining His work as He goes along; this work is nothing so supernatural as to stretch the limits of the human imagination. This is like Jehovah’s work in creating the heavens and earth and all things; He planned and worked simultaneously. He separated the light from the darkness, and morning and evening came into being—this took one day. On the second day, He created the sky, and that also took one day; He then created the earth, the seas, and all the creatures that populated them, which required yet another day. This continued until the sixth day, when God created man and let him manage all the things upon the earth. Then, on the seventh day, when He had finished creating all things, He rested. God blessed the seventh day and designated it as a holy day. He only decided to establish this holy day after He had already created all things, not before creating them. This work was also carried out spontaneously; before creating all things, He had not decided to create the world in six days and then rest on the seventh; such is not at all in line with the facts. He had not voiced such a thing, nor had He planned it. By no means had He said that the creation of all things would be completed on the sixth day and that He would rest on the seventh; rather, He created according to what seemed good to Him at the time. Once He had finished creating everything, it was already the sixth day. If it had been the fifth day when He finished creating everything, He would therefore have designated the sixth day as a holy day. However, He did in fact finish creating everything on the sixth day, and thus the seventh day became a holy day, which has been passed down to this very day. Therefore, His current work is being carried out in this same manner. He speaks and provides for your needs in accordance with your situations. That is, the Spirit speaks and works according to people’s circumstances; He keeps watch over all and works at any time and any place. That which I do, say, place upon you, and bestow upon you is, without exception, that which you need. Thus, none of My work is separate from reality; it is all real, for you all know that “God’s Spirit keeps watch over all.” If this had all been decided ahead of time, would it not have been too cut-and-dried? You think that God worked out plans for six whole millennia and then predestined humanity to be rebellious, resistant, crooked and deceitful, and to possess the corruption of the flesh, a satanic disposition, the lust of the eyes, and individual indulgences. None of that was predestined by God, but rather it all happened as a result of Satan’s corruption. Some might say, “Was Satan not also within God’s grasp? God had predestined that Satan would corrupt man in this manner, and after that, God carried out His work among man.” Would God actually predestine Satan to corrupt humanity? God is only too eager to allow humanity to live normally, so would He really interfere with their lives? If so, would not defeating Satan and saving humanity be a futile effort? How could humanity’s rebelliousness have been predestined? It is something that has happened due to Satan’s interference, so how could it have been predestined by God? The Satan within God’s grasp of which you conceive is very different from the Satan within God’s grasp of which I speak. According to your statements that “God is almighty, and Satan is within His hands,” Satan could never betray Him. Did you not say that God is almighty? Your knowledge is too abstract, and is not in touch with reality; man can never fathom God’s thoughts, nor can man ever comprehend His wisdom! God is almighty; this is not a falsehood at all. The archangel betrayed God because God initially gave it a share of authority. Of course, this was an unexpected event, just as when Eve succumbed to the serpent’s temptation. However, no matter how Satan carries out its betrayal, it still is not as almighty as God. As you have said, Satan is merely mighty; no matter what it does, God’s authority will always defeat it. This is the true meaning behind the saying, “God is almighty, and Satan is within His hands.” Therefore, the war with Satan must be carried out one step at a time. Moreover, God plans His work in response to Satan’s ruses—that is, He brings salvation to humanity and reveals His almightiness and wisdom in a manner befitting the age. Likewise, the work of the last days was not predestined early on, before the Age of Grace; predestinations are not made in such an orderly manner as this: first, making man’s external disposition change; second, subjecting man to His chastisement and trials; third, causing man to undergo the trial of death; fourth, having man experience the time of loving God and express the resolution of a created being; fifth, allowing man to see God’s will and know Him completely, and finally completing man. He did not plan all these things during the Age of Grace; rather, He began planning them in the present age. Satan is at work, as is God. Satan expresses its corrupt disposition, whereas God speaks straightforwardly and reveals some essential things. This is the work being done today, and there is the same working principle that was used long ago, after the creation of the world.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 150

First God created Adam and Eve, and He also created a serpent. Of all things, this serpent was the most poisonous; its body contained venom, which Satan utilized to take advantage of it. It was the serpent that tempted Eve to sin. Adam sinned after Eve did, and the two of them were then able to distinguish between good and evil. If Jehovah had known that the serpent would tempt Eve and that Eve would tempt Adam, then why did He place them all inside a garden? If He had been able to predict these things, then why did He create a serpent and place it within the Garden of Eden? Why did the Garden of Eden contain fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Had He meant for them to eat the fruit? When Jehovah came, neither Adam nor Eve dared to confront Him, and it was only then that Jehovah knew that they had eaten the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and fallen prey to the serpent’s trickery. In the end, He cursed the serpent, and He cursed Adam and Eve as well. When the two of them ate of the fruit of the tree, Jehovah was not at all aware that they were doing it. Humanity became corrupted to the point of being evil and sexually promiscuous, going even so far that everything they harbored in their hearts was evil and unrighteous; it was all filth. Jehovah therefore regretted having creating humanity. After that, He carried out His work of destroying the world with a flood, which Noah and his sons survived. Some things are not actually as advanced and supernatural as people might imagine. Some ask, “Since God knew the archangel would betray Him, why did He create it?” These are the facts: Before the earth existed, the archangel was the greatest of heaven’s angels. It had jurisdiction over all the angels in heaven; this was the authority God had granted it. With the exception of God, it was the greatest of heaven’s angels. Later, after God had created humanity, down on earth the archangel carried out an even greater treachery against God. I say it betrayed God because it wanted to manage humanity and to surpass God’s authority. It was the archangel that tempted Eve into sin, and it did so because it wished to establish its kingdom upon earth and to get humans to turn their backs on God and obey the archangel instead. The archangel saw that so many things could obey it—the angels could, as could the people upon the earth. The birds and beasts, trees, forests, mountains, rivers, and all things upon the earth were under the care of humans—that is, Adam and Eve—while Adam and Eve obeyed the archangel. The archangel therefore desired to surpass God’s authority and to betray God. After that, it led many angels in rebellion against God, which later became various sorts of unclean spirits. Has not humanity’s development to this day been caused by the archangel’s corruption? Humans are only the way they are today because the archangel betrayed God and corrupted humanity. This step-by-step work is nowhere near as abstract and simple as people might imagine. Satan carried out its betrayal for a reason, yet people are unable to comprehend such a simple fact. Why did God, who created the heavens and earth and all things, also create Satan? Since God despises Satan so much, and Satan is His enemy, why did He create Satan? By creating Satan, was He not creating an enemy? God did not actually create an enemy; rather, He created an angel, and later that angel betrayed Him. Its status had grown so great that it wished to betray God. One could say that this was a coincidence, but it was also an inevitability. It is similar to how a person will inevitably die after maturing to a certain point; things have just developed to that stage. Some absurd fools say, “Since Satan is Your enemy, why did You create it? Did You not know that the archangel would betray You? Can You not gaze from eternity to eternity? Did You not know the archangel’s nature? Since You clearly knew that it would betray You, why did You make it into an archangel? Not only did it betray You, it also led so many other angels with it and descended to the world of mortals to corrupt humanity, yet to this day, You still have been unable to complete Your six-thousand-year management plan.” Are those words correct? When you think in this way, are you not putting yourself through more trouble than is necessary? There are others who say, “Had Satan not corrupted humanity through to the present day, God would not have brought humanity salvation like this. As such, God’s wisdom and almightiness would have been invisible; where would His wisdom have been revealed? God therefore created a human race for Satan so that He could later reveal His almightiness—otherwise, how could man discover God’s wisdom? If man did not resist God or rebel against Him, it would be unnecessary for His acts to be revealed. If all of creation were to worship Him and submit to Him, God would have no work to do.” This is even further from reality, for there is nothing filthy about God, so He cannot create filth. He reveals His acts now only in order to defeat His enemy, to save the humans He created, and to defeat the demons and Satan, which hate, betray, and resist God, and which were under His dominion and belonged to Him in the very beginning. God wants to defeat these demons and, in doing so, reveal His almightiness to all things. Humanity and everything on earth are now under Satan’s domain and lie under the domain of the wicked. God wants to reveal His acts to all things so that people may know Him, and thereby defeat Satan and thoroughly vanquish His enemies. The entirety of this work is accomplished through revealing His acts. All of His creation is under Satan’s domain, so God wishes to reveal His almightiness to them, thereby defeating Satan. If there were no Satan, He would not need to reveal His deeds. If not for Satan’s harassment, God would have created humanity and led them to live in the Garden of Eden. Why, prior to Satan’s betrayal, did God never reveal all His deeds to the angels or to the archangel? If, in the beginning, all the angels and the archangel had known God and had submitted to Him, then God would not have carried out those meaningless acts of work. Because of the existence of Satan and demons, humans, too, have resisted God, and are filled to the brim with rebellious disposition. God therefore wishes to reveal His acts. Because He wishes to do war with Satan, He must use His own authority and all His acts to defeat it; in this way, the work of salvation that He performs among humans will allow them to see His wisdom and almightiness. The work God is doing today is meaningful, and in no way resembles that to which some people refer when they say, “Is not the work You do contradictory? Is not this succession of work merely an exercise in making trouble for Yourself? You created Satan, and then allowed it to betray and resist You. You created humans, and then handed them over to Satan, allowing Adam and Eve to be tempted. Since You did all these things on purpose, why do You still detest humanity? Why do You loathe Satan? Are these not all of Your own making? What is there for You to hate?” Quite a few absurd people say such things. They wish to love God, but deep down, they complain about God. What a contradiction! You do not understand the truth, you have too many supernatural thoughts, and you even claim that God made a mistake—how absurd you are! It is you who are fiddling with the truth; it is not the case that God has made a mistake! Some people even complain over and over, “It was You who created Satan, and You who cast Satan down among humans and handed them over to it. Once humans possessed satanic disposition, You did not forgive them; on the contrary, You hated them to a certain degree. At first You loved them to a certain degree, but now You detest them. It is You who has hated humanity, yet You are also the one who has loved humanity. What exactly is going on here? Is this not a contradiction?” Regardless of how you look at it, this is what happened in heaven; this was the manner in which the archangel betrayed God and humanity was corrupted, and this is how humans have continued to this day. Regardless of how you phrase it, that is the entire story. However, you must understand that the whole purpose behind this work God is doing today is to save you and to defeat Satan.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 151

God uses His management of humans to defeat Satan. By corrupting people, Satan brings their fate to a close and disrupts God’s work. On the other hand, God’s work is the salvation of humanity. Which step of the work God does is not meant to save humanity? Which step is not meant to cleanse people, and to make them behave righteously and live out the image of ones who can be loved? Satan, however, does not do this. It corrupts humanity; it continuously carries out its work of corrupting humanity throughout the universe. Of course, God also does His own work, paying no attention to Satan. No matter how much authority Satan has, that authority was still given to it by God; God simply did not actually give it all His authority, and so no matter what Satan does, it can never surpass God and will always be within God’s grasp. God did not reveal any of His acts while in heaven. He merely gave Satan a small portion of authority and allowed it to exercise control over the other angels. Therefore, no matter what Satan does, it cannot surpass God’s authority, because the authority that God originally granted it is limited. As God works, Satan disrupts. In the last days, its disruptions will be finished; likewise, God’s work will also be finished, and the kind of humans God wishes to complete will be completed. God directs people positively; His life is living water, immeasurable and boundless. Satan has corrupted man to a certain degree; in the end, the living water of life will complete man, and it will be impossible for Satan to interfere and carry out its work. Thus, God will be able to gain these people completely. Even now, Satan still refuses to accept this; it continuously pits itself against God, but He pays it no attention. God has said, “I will be victorious over all of Satan’s dark forces and over all dark influences.” This is the work that is to be done in the flesh, and it is also what makes becoming flesh significant: that is, to complete the stage of work of defeating Satan in the last days, and to wipe out all things that belong to Satan. God’s victory over Satan is inevitable! Actually, Satan already failed long ago. When the gospel began to spread throughout the land of the great red dragon—that is, when God incarnate began His work and this work was set in motion—Satan was utterly defeated, for the very purpose of the incarnation was to vanquish Satan. As soon as Satan saw that God had once again become flesh and begun to carry out His work, which no force could stop, it therefore became dumbfounded at the sight of this work, and did not dare to do any further mischief. At first Satan thought that it, too, was endowed with plenty of wisdom, and it interrupted and harassed God’s work; however, it did not expect that God would once again become flesh, or that in His work, God would use Satan’s rebelliousness to serve as a revelation and judgment for humanity, thereby conquering humans and defeating Satan. God is wiser than Satan, and His work far exceeds it. Therefore, as I have previously stated, “The work that I do is carried out in response to Satan’s ruses; in the end, I will reveal My almightiness and Satan’s powerlessness.” God will do His work in the forefront, while Satan will trail behind, until, in the end, it is finally destroyed—it will not even know what hit it! It will only realize the truth once it has already been smashed and crushed, and by then, it will already have been incinerated in the lake of fire. Will it not be completely convinced then? For Satan will then have no more schemes to employ!

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Should Know How the Whole of Humanity Has Developed to the Present Day

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 152

God’s work among man is inseparable from man, for man is the object of this work, and the only creature made by God that can bear testimony to God. The life of man and all of man’s activities are inseparable from God, and are all controlled by the hands of God, and it may even be said that no person can exist independently of God. None can deny this, for it is a fact. All that God does is for the profit of mankind and is directed against the schemes of Satan. All that man needs comes from God, and God is the source of man’s life. Thus, man is simply unable to part from God. God, furthermore, has never had any intention of parting from man. The work that God does is for the sake of all mankind, and His thoughts are always kind. For man, then, the work of God and the thoughts of God (that is, God’s will) are both “visions” that should be known by man. Such visions are also the management of God, and work that is incapable of being done by man. The requirements that God makes of man during His work, meanwhile, are called the “practice” of man. Visions are the work of God Himself, or they are His will for mankind or the aims and significance of His work. Visions can also be said to be a part of the management, for this management is the work of God, and is directed at man, which means that it is the work that God does among man. This work is the evidence and the path through which man comes to know God, and it is of the utmost importance for man. If, instead of paying attention to the knowledge of God’s work, people only pay attention to the doctrines of belief in God, or to triflingly unimportant details, then they simply will not know God, and, moreover, will not be after God’s heart. The work of God that is exceedingly helpful to man’s knowledge of God is called visions. These visions are the work of God, the will of God, and the aims and significance of God’s work; they are all of benefit to man. Practice refers to that which should be done by man, that which should be done by the creatures that follow God, and it is also the duty of man. What man is supposed to do is not something that was understood by man from the very beginning, but is the requirements that God makes of man during His work. These requirements become gradually more profound and more elevated as God works. For example, during the Age of Law, man had to follow the law, and during the Age of Grace, man had to bear the cross. The Age of Kingdom is different: The requirements of man are higher than those during the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. As the visions become more elevated, the requirements of man become ever higher, and become ever clearer and more real. Likewise, the visions also become increasingly real. These many real visions are not only conducive to man’s obedience to God, but are, moreover, conducive to his knowledge of God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Practice

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 153

Compared to previous ages, the work of God during the Age of Kingdom is more practical, more directed at man’s essence and changes in his disposition, and more able to bear testimony to God Himself for all those that follow Him. In other words, during the Age of Kingdom, as He works, God shows more of Himself to man than at any time in the past, which means that the visions that should be known by man are higher than in any previous age. Because God’s work among man has entered unprecedented territory, the visions known by man during the Age of Kingdom are the highest throughout all of the management work. God’s work has entered unprecedented territory, and so the visions to be known by man have become the highest of all visions, and the resultant practice of man is also higher than in any previous age, for the practice of man changes in step with the visions, and the perfection of the visions also marks the perfection of the requirements of man. As soon as all of God’s management comes to a halt, so too does the practice of man cease, and without the work of God, man will have no choice but to keep to the doctrine of times past, or else will simply have nowhere to turn. Without new visions, there will be no new practice by man; without complete visions, there will be no perfect practice by man; without higher visions, there will be no higher practice by man. The practice of man changes along with the footsteps of God, and, likewise, the knowledge and experience of man also change along with God’s work. Regardless of how capable man is, still he is inseparable from God, and if God were to stop working for just a moment, man would immediately die from His wrath. Man has nothing to boast of, for no matter how high man’s knowledge today, no matter how profound his experiences, he is inseparable from God’s work—for the practice of man, and that which he should seek in his belief in God, are inseparable from the visions. In every instance of God’s work, there are visions that man should know, and, following these, fitting requirements are made of man. Without these visions as the foundation, man would be simply incapable of practice, nor would man be able to follow God unwaveringly. If man does not know God or understand God’s will, then all that man does is in vain, and incapable of being approved by God. No matter how plentiful man’s gifts, still he is inseparable from God’s work and the guidance of God. No matter how good the actions of man are or how many actions man performs, still they cannot replace the work of God. And so, under no circumstance is the practice of man separable from the visions. Those who do not accept the new visions have no new practice. Their practice bears no relation to the truth because they abide by doctrine and keep to the dead law; they have no new visions at all, and as a result, they put nothing from the new age into practice. They have lost the visions, and in doing so they have also lost the work of the Holy Spirit, and they have lost the truth. Those who are without the truth are the progeny of absurdity, they are the embodiment of Satan. No matter what kind of person someone is, they cannot be without the visions of God’s work, and cannot be bereft of the presence of the Holy Spirit; as soon as one loses the visions, one instantly descends into Hades and lives among darkness. People without visions are those who follow God foolishly, they are those who are devoid of the work of the Holy Spirit, and they are living in hell. Such people do not pursue the truth, but instead hang out the name of God like a signboard. Those who do not know the work of the Holy Spirit, who do not know God incarnate, who do not know the three stages of work in the entirety of God’s management—they do not know the visions, and so are without the truth. And are not those who do not possess the truth all evildoers? Those who are willing to put the truth into practice, who are willing to seek a knowledge of God, and who truly cooperate with God are people for whom the visions act as a foundation. They are approved by God because they cooperate with God, and it is this cooperation that should be put into practice by man.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Practice

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 154

In the visions are contained many paths to practice. The practical demands made of man are also contained within the visions, as is the work of God that should be known by man. In the past, during the special gatherings or the grand gatherings that were held in various places, only one aspect of the path of practice was spoken of. Such practice was that which was to be put into practice during the Age of Grace, and scarcely bore any relation to the knowledge of God, for the vision of the Age of Grace was only the vision of Jesus’ crucifixion, and there were no greater visions. Man was supposed to know no more than the work of His redemption of mankind through the crucifixion, and so during the Age of Grace there were no other visions for man to know. In this way, man had only a scant knowledge of God, and apart from the knowledge of Jesus’ love and compassion, there were but a few simple and pitiful things for him to put into practice, things that were a far cry from today. In the past, no matter what form his assembly took, man was incapable of speaking of a practical knowledge of God’s work, much less was anyone able to clearly say which was the most suitable path of practice for man to enter upon. Man merely added a few simple details to a foundation of forbearance and patience; there was simply no change in the essence of his practice, for within the same age God did not do any newer work, and the only requirements He made of man were forbearance and patience, or bearing the cross. Apart from such practices, there were no higher visions than the crucifixion of Jesus. In the past, there was no mention of other visions because God did not do a great deal of work, and because He only made limited demands of man. In this way, regardless of what man did, he was incapable of transgressing these bounds, bounds which were but a few simple and shallow things for man to put into practice. Today I talk of other visions because today, more work has been done, work that is several times in excess of the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. The requirements of man, too, are several times higher than in ages past. If man is incapable of fully knowing such work, then it would possess no great significance; it can be said that man will have difficulty fully knowing such work if he does not devote an entire lifetime’s effort to it. In the work of conquest, to talk only of the path of practice would make the conquest of man impossible. Mere talk of the visions, without making any requirements of man, would also render the conquest of man impossible. If nothing were spoken of but the path of practice, then it would be impossible to strike at man’s Achilles’ heel, or to dispel the notions of man, and so too would it be impossible to completely conquer man. Visions are the main instrument of man’s conquest, yet if there were no path of practice apart from the visions, then man would have no way to follow, much less would he have any means of entry. This has been the principle of God’s work from beginning to end: In the visions there is that which can be put into practice, and so too are there visions in addition to practice. The degree of changes in both man’s life and his disposition accompanies changes in the visions. Were man only to rely on his own efforts, then it would be impossible for him to achieve any great degree of change. The visions speak of the work of God Himself and the management of God. Practice refers to the path of man’s practice, and to the way of man’s existence; in all of God’s management, the relationship between visions and practice is the relationship between God and man. If the visions were removed, or if they were spoken of without the talk of practice, or if there were only visions and the practice of man was eradicated, then such things could not be considered the management of God, much less could it be said that the work of God is done for the sake of mankind; in this way, not only would man’s duty be removed, but it would be a denial of the purpose of God’s work. If, from beginning to end, man were merely required to practice, without the involvement of God’s work, and, moreover, if man were not required to know the work of God, then such work could even less be called the management of God. If man did not know God, and were ignorant of God’s will, and blindly carried out his practice in a vague and abstract way, then he would never become a fully qualified creature. And so, these two things are both indispensable. If there were only the work of God, which is to say, if there were only the visions and if there were no cooperation or practice by man, then such things could not be called the management of God. If there were only the practice and entry of man, then regardless of how high the path that man entered upon, this, too, would be unacceptable. The entry of man must gradually change in step with the work and visions; it cannot change on a whim. The principles of man’s practice are not free and unrestrained but are set within certain bounds. Such principles change in step with the visions of the work. Therefore, God’s management ultimately comes down to God’s work and the practice of man.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Practice

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 155

The management work only came about because of mankind, which means it only arose because of the existence of mankind. There was no management before mankind, or in the beginning, when the heavens and earth and all things were created. If, in all of God’s work, there were no practice beneficial to man, which is to say, if God did not make fitting requirements of corrupt mankind (if, in the work done by God, there were no suitable path for man’s practice), then this work could not be called God’s management. If the entirety of God’s work only involved telling corrupt mankind how to go about their practice, and God did not carry out any of His own enterprise, and exhibited not a shred of His omnipotence or wisdom, then no matter how high God’s requirements of man, no matter how long God lived among man, man would know nothing of God’s disposition; if that were the case, then work of this kind would be even less worthy of being called God’s management. Simply put, the work of God’s management is the work done by God, and all the work carried out under the guidance of God by those who have been gained by God. Such work can be summarized as management. In other words, God’s work among man, as well as the cooperation with Him of all those who follow Him are collectively called management. Here, the work of God is called visions, and the cooperation of man is called practice. The higher God’s work (that is, the higher the visions), the more God’s disposition is made plain to man, the more it is at odds with the notions of man, and the higher the practice and cooperation of man become. The higher the requirements of man, the more God’s work is at odds with the notions of man, as a result of which the trials of man, and the standards that he is required to meet, also become higher. At the conclusion of this work, all visions will have been made complete, and that which man is required to put into practice will have reached the acme of perfection. This will also be the time when each is classed according to kind, for that which man is required to know will have been shown to man. So, when the visions reach their apogee, the work will accordingly approach its end, and man’s practice will have also reached its zenith. The practice of man is based on the work of God, and the management of God is only fully expressed thanks to the practice and cooperation of man. Man is the showpiece of God’s work, and the object of the work of all of God’s management, and also the product of God’s entire management. If God worked alone, without the cooperation of man, then there would be nothing that could serve as the crystallization of His entire work, and then there would not be the slightest significance to God’s management. Besides God’s work, only by God choosing fitting objects to express His work and prove its omnipotence and wisdom can God achieve the aim of His management, and achieve the aim of using all of this work to completely defeat Satan. Therefore, man is an indispensable part of the work of God’s management, and man is the only one that can make God’s management bear fruit and achieve its ultimate aim; apart from man, no other life form can undertake such a role. If man is to become the true crystallization of God’s management work, then the disobedience of corrupt mankind must be entirely dispelled. This requires that man be given practice suitable for different times, and that God carry out the corresponding work among man. Only in this way will there ultimately be gained a group of people who are the crystallization of God’s management work. God’s work among man cannot bear testimony to God Himself merely through the work of God alone; to be achieved, such testimony also requires living human beings that are suitable for His work. God will first work upon these people, through whom His work will then be expressed, and thus such testimony of His will be borne among the creatures, and in this, God will have achieved the aim of His work. God does not work alone to defeat Satan because He cannot bear direct testimony to Himself among all creatures. If He were to do so, it would be impossible to utterly convince man, so God must work on man in order to conquer him, and only then will He be able to gain testimony among all creatures. If it were just God who worked, without the cooperation of man, or if man were not required to cooperate, then man would never be able to know God’s disposition, and would forever be unaware of God’s will; God’s work could then not be called the work of God’s management. If only man himself were to strive, and seek, and work hard, without understanding the work of God, then man would be playing pranks. Without the work of the Holy Spirit, that which man does is of Satan, he is rebellious and an evildoer; Satan is exhibited in all that is done by corrupt mankind, and there is nothing that is compatible with God, and all man does is the manifestation of Satan. Nothing in all that has been spoken of is exclusive of visions and practice. Upon the foundation of visions, man finds practice and the path of obedience, so that he may put aside his notions and gain those things that he has not possessed in the past. God requires that man cooperate with Him, that man completely submit to His requirements, and man asks to behold the work done by God Himself, to experience the almighty power of God, and to know God’s disposition. These, in summary, are the management of God. God’s union with man is the management, and it is the greatest management.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Practice

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 156

That which involves visions primarily refers to the work of God Himself, and that which involves practice should be done by man and bears no relation to God whatsoever. The work of God is completed by God Himself, and the practice of man is achieved by man himself. That which should be done by God Himself does not need to be done by man, and that which should be practiced by man is unrelated to God. The work of God is His own ministry and bears no relation to man. This work does not need to be done by man, and, furthermore, man would be incapable of doing the work to be done by God. That which man is required to practice must be accomplished by man, whether it be the sacrifice of his life, or the delivery of him over to Satan to stand testimony—these must all be accomplished by man. God Himself completes all the work He is supposed to, and that which man should do is shown to man, and the remaining work is left to man to do. God does not do additional work. He does only the work that is within His ministry, and only shows man the way, and only does the work of opening the way, and does not do the work of paving the way; this should be understood by all. Putting the truth into practice means putting the words of God into practice, and all this is the duty of man, is that which should be done by man, and has nothing whatsoever to do with God. If man demands that God also suffer torment and refinement in the truth, in the same way as man, then man is being disobedient. God’s work is to perform His ministry, and the duty of man is to obey all of God’s guidance, without any resistance. That which man must attain he is behooved to accomplish, regardless of the manner in which God works or lives. Only God Himself can make requirements of man, which is to say, only God Himself is fit to make requirements of man. Man should not have any choice and should do nothing but fully submit and practice; this is the sense that should be possessed by man. Once the work that should be done by God Himself is completed, man is required to experience it, step by step. If, in the end, when all of God’s management has been completed, man has still not done that which is required by God, then man should be punished. If man does not fulfill the requirements of God, then this is due to the disobedience of man; it does not mean that God has not been thorough enough in His work. All those who cannot put God’s words into practice, those who cannot fulfill God’s requirements, and those who cannot give their loyalty and fulfill their duty shall all be punished. Today, what you are required to achieve are not additional demands, but the duty of man, and that which should be done by all people. If you are incapable of even doing your duty, or of doing it well, then are you not bringing trouble upon yourselves? Are you not courting death? How could you still expect to have a future and prospects? The work of God is done for the sake of mankind, and the cooperation of man is given for the sake of God’s management. After God has done all that He is supposed to do, man is required to be unstinting in his practice, and to cooperate with God. In the work of God, man should spare no effort, should offer up his loyalty, and should not indulge in numerous notions, or sit passively and await death. God can sacrifice Himself for man, so why can man not offer his loyalty to God? God is of one heart and mind toward man, so why can man not offer a little cooperation? God works for mankind, so why can man not perform some of his duty for the sake of God’s management? God’s work has come this far, yet still you see but do not act, you hear but do not move. Are not such people the objects of perdition? God has already devoted His all to man, so why, today, is man incapable of earnestly performing his duty? For God, His work is His first priority, and the work of His management is of the utmost importance. For man, putting God’s words into practice and fulfilling God’s requirements are his first priority. This you should all understand. The words spoken to you have reached the very core of your substance, and God’s work has entered unprecedented territory. Many people still do not understand the truth or falsehood of this way; they are still waiting and seeing, and not performing their duty. Instead, they examine every word and action by God, they focus on what He eats and wears, and their notions become ever more grievous. Are such people not making a fuss about nothing? How could such people be those who seek God? And how could they be those who have the intention to submit to God? They put their loyalty and duty to the back of their minds, and instead concentrate on the whereabouts of God. They are an outrage! If man has understood all that he is supposed to understand, and has put into practice all that he is supposed to put into practice, then God will surely bestow His blessings upon man, for that which He requires of man is the duty of man, and that which should be done by man. If man is incapable of comprehending what he is supposed to understand and is incapable of putting into practice what he should put into practice, then man will be punished. Those who do not cooperate with God are in enmity to God, those who do not accept the new work are opposed to it, even if such people do nothing that is obviously in opposition to it. All those who do not put into practice the truth required by God are people who deliberately oppose and are disobedient toward the words of God, even if such people pay special attention to the work of the Holy Spirit. People who do not obey God’s words and submit to God are rebellious, and they are in opposition to God. People who do not perform their duty are those who do not cooperate with God, and people who do not cooperate with God are those who do not accept the work of the Holy Spirit.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Practice

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 157

When God’s work reaches a certain point, and His management reaches a certain point, those who are after His heart are all capable of fulfilling His requirements. God makes requirements of man according to His own standards, and according to that which man is capable of achieving. Whilst talking of His management, He also points the way for man, and provides man with a path for survival. The management of God and the practice of man are both of the same stage of work and are carried out simultaneously. Talk of God’s management relates to changes in man’s disposition, and talk of that which should be done by man and of changes in man’s disposition relates to the work of God; there is no time at which these two may be separated. The practice of man is changing, step-by-step. That is because God’s requirements of man are also changing, and because God’s work is always changing and progressing. If man’s practice remains ensnared in doctrine, this proves that he is bereft of God’s work and guidance; if man’s practice never changes or goes deeper, then this proves that the practice of man is carried out according to the will of man, and is not the practice of the truth; if man has no path on which to tread, then he has already fallen into the hands of Satan, and is controlled by Satan, which means that he is controlled by evil spirits. If man’s practice does not go deeper, then God’s work will not develop, and if there is no change in God’s work, then man’s entry will come to a halt; this is inevitable. Throughout all of God’s work, if man were to always abide by the law of Jehovah, then God’s work could not progress, much less would it be possible to bring the entire age to an end. If man always held to the cross and practiced patience and humility, then it would be impossible for God’s work to continue progressing. Six thousand years of management simply cannot be brought to an end among people who only abide by the law, or only hold to the cross and practice patience and humility. Instead, the entire work of God’s management is concluded among those of the last days, who know God, who have been recovered from the clutches of Satan, and who have fully divested themselves from the influence of Satan. This is the inevitable direction of God’s work. Why is it said that the practice of those in the religious churches is outdated? It is because what they put into practice is divorced from the work of today. In the Age of Grace, what they put into practice was right, but as the age has passed and God’s work has changed, their practice has gradually become outdated. It has been left behind by the new work and the new light. Based upon its original foundation, the work of the Holy Spirit has progressed several steps deeper. Yet those people still remain stuck at the original stage of God’s work, and still cleave to the old practices and the old light. God’s work can change greatly in three or five years, so would not even greater transformations occur over the course of 2,000 years? If man has no new light or practice, it means that he has not kept up with the work of the Holy Spirit. This is the failing of man; the existence of God’s new work cannot be denied because, today, those who previously had the work of the Holy Spirit still abide by outdated practices. The work of the Holy Spirit is always moving forward, and all those who are in the stream of the Holy Spirit should also be progressing deeper and changing, step-by-step. They should not stop at a single stage. Only those who do not know the work of the Holy Spirit would remain amongst His original work, and not accept the new work of the Holy Spirit. Only those who are disobedient would be incapable of gaining the Holy Spirit’s work. If the practice of man does not keep pace with the new work of the Holy Spirit, then the practice of man is surely dissevered from the work of today and is surely incompatible with the work of today. Such outdated people as these are simply incapable of accomplishing God’s will, much less could they become people who will ultimately stand testimony to God. The entire management work, furthermore, could not be concluded amongst such a group of people. For those who once held to the law of Jehovah, and those who once suffered for the cross, if they cannot accept the stage of work of the last days, then all that they did will have been in vain, and useless. The clearest expression of the Holy Spirit’s work is in embracing the here and now, not clinging to the past. Those who have not kept up with the work of today, and who have become separated from the practice of today, are those who oppose and do not accept the work of the Holy Spirit. Such people defy the present work of God. Though they hold onto the light of the past, it cannot be denied that they do not know the work of the Holy Spirit. Why has there been all this talk of the changes in the practice of man, of the differences in the practice between the past and today, of how the practice was carried out during the previous age, and of how it is done today? Such divisions in the practice of man are always spoken of because the work of the Holy Spirit is constantly moving forward, and thus the practice of man is required to constantly change. If man remains stuck in one stage, then this proves that he is incapable of keeping up with God’s new work and new light; it does not prove that God’s plan of management has not changed. Those who are outside the stream of the Holy Spirit always think they are right, but in fact, God’s work in them ceased long ago, and the work of the Holy Spirit is absent from them. The work of God was long since transferred to another group of people, a group on whom He intends to complete His new work. Because those in religion are incapable of accepting God’s new work, and hold only to the old work of the past, thus God has forsaken these people, and does His new work on the people who accept this new work. These are people who cooperate in His new work, and only in this way can His management be accomplished. The management of God is always moving forward, and the practice of man is always ascending higher. God is always working, and man is always in need, such that both reach their zenith and God and man achieve complete union. This is the expression of the accomplishment of God’s work, and it is the final outcome of God’s entire management.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Practice

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 158

In each stage of God’s work there are also corresponding requirements of man. All those who are within the stream of the Holy Spirit are possessed of the presence and discipline of the Holy Spirit, and those who are not within the stream of the Holy Spirit are under the command of Satan, and without any of the work of the Holy Spirit. People who are in the stream of the Holy Spirit are those who accept the new work of God, and who cooperate in the new work of God. If those who are within this stream are incapable of cooperating, and unable to put into practice the truth required by God during this time, then they will be disciplined, and at worst will be forsaken by the Holy Spirit. Those who accept the new work of the Holy Spirit, will live within the stream of the Holy Spirit, and they will receive the care and protection of the Holy Spirit. Those who are willing to put the truth into practice are enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and those who are unwilling to put the truth into practice are disciplined by the Holy Spirit, and may even be punished. Regardless of what kind of person they are, provided that they are within the stream of the Holy Spirit, God will take responsibility for all those who accept His new work for the sake of His name. Those who glorify His name and are willing to put His words into practice will receive His blessings; those who disobey Him and do not put His words into practice will receive His punishment. People who are in the stream of the Holy Spirit are those who accept the new work, and since they have accepted the new work, they should cooperate appropriately with God, and should not act as rebels who do not perform their duty. This is God’s only requirement of man. Not so for the people who do not accept the new work: They are outside the stream of the Holy Spirit, and the discipline and reproach of the Holy Spirit do not apply to them. All day, these people live within the flesh, they live within their minds, and all that they do is according to the doctrine produced by the analysis and research of their own brains. This is not what is required by the Holy Spirit’s new work, much less is it cooperation with God. Those who do not accept the new work of God are bereft of the presence of God, and, moreover, devoid of the blessings and protection of God. Most of their words and actions hold to the past requirements of the Holy Spirit’s work; they are doctrine, not truth. Such doctrine and regulation are sufficient to prove that the gathering together of these people is nothing but religion; they are not the chosen ones, or the objects of God’s work. The assembly of all those among them can only be called a grand congress of religion, and cannot be called a church. This is an unalterable fact. They do not have the Holy Spirit’s new work; what they do seems redolent of religion, what they live out seems replete with religion; they do not possess the presence and work of the Holy Spirit, much less are they eligible to receive the discipline or enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. These people are all lifeless corpses, and maggots that are devoid of spirituality. They have no knowledge of man’s rebelliousness and opposition, have no knowledge of all of man’s evildoing, much less do they know all of God’s work and God’s present will. They are all ignorant, base people, and they are scum that are unfit to be called believers! Nothing they do has any bearing on the management of God, much less can it impair God’s plans. Their words and actions are too disgusting, too pathetic, and simply unworthy of mention. Nothing done by those who are not within the stream of the Holy Spirit has anything to do with the new work of the Holy Spirit. Because of this, no matter what they do, they are without the discipline of the Holy Spirit, and, moreover, without the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. For they are all people who have no love for the truth, and who have been detested and rejected by the Holy Spirit. They are called evildoers because they walk in the flesh and do whatever pleases them under the signboard of God. While God works, they are deliberately hostile to Him, and run in the opposite direction to Him. Man’s failure to cooperate with God is supremely rebellious in itself, so will not those people who deliberately run counter to God particularly receive their just retribution?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Practice

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 159

You must come to know the visions of God’s work and grasp the general direction of His work. This is positive entry. Once you have accurately mastered the truth of visions, your entry will be secure; no matter how God’s work changes, you will remain steadfast in your heart, be clear about the visions, and have a goal for your entry and your pursuit. In this way, all the experience and knowledge within you will grow deeper and become more detailed. Once you have grasped the bigger picture in its entirety, you will suffer no losses in life, nor will you go astray. If you do not come to know these steps of work, you shall suffer loss at each step, and it will take you more than a few days to turn things around, nor will you be able to set upon the right track in even a couple of weeks. Will this not cause delays? There is much in the way of positive entry and practice that you must master. As for the visions of God’s work, you must grasp the following points: the significance of His work of conquest, the future path to being made perfect, what must be achieved through experiencing trials and tribulations, the significance of judgment and chastisement, the principles behind the work of the Holy Spirit, and the principles behind perfection and conquest. These all belong to the truth of visions. The rest are the three stages of work in the Age of Law, the Age of Grace, and the Age of Kingdom, as well as future testimony. These, too, are the truth of visions, and they are what is most fundamental as well as most crucial. At present, there is so much that you should enter into and practice, and it is now more layered and more detailed. If you have no knowledge of these truths, this proves that you have yet to achieve entry. Most of the time, people’s knowledge of the truth is too shallow; they are unable to put into practice certain basic truths and do not know how to handle even trivial matters. The reason that people are unable to practice truth is because their disposition is rebellious, and because their knowledge of the work of today is too superficial and one-sided. Thus, it is no easy task for people to be made perfect. You are much too rebellious, and you retain too much of your old self; you are unable to stand on the side of truth, and you are unable to practice even the most self-evident of truths. Such people cannot be saved and are those who have not been conquered. If your entry has neither detail nor objectives, growth will be slow in coming to you. If there is not the slightest reality to your entry, then your pursuit will be in vain. If you are unaware of the essence of truth, you will remain unchanged. Growth in man’s life and changes in his disposition are achieved by entering into reality and, moreover, through entering into detailed experiences. If you have many detailed experiences during your entry, and you have much actual knowledge and entry, your disposition shall quickly change. Even if, at present, you are not completely clear about practice, you must at the very least be clear about the visions of God’s work. If not, you shall be incapable of entry; entry is only possible once you have knowledge of the truth. Only if the Holy Spirit enlightens you in your experience will you gain a deeper understanding of the truth, and deeper entry. You must come to know the work of God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Difference Between the Ministry of God Incarnate and the Duty of Man

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 160

In the beginning, after the creation of mankind, it was the Israelites who served as the basis of God’s work. The whole of Israel was the base of Jehovah’s work on earth. The work of Jehovah was to lead and shepherd man directly by setting forth the laws, so that man could live a normal life and worship Jehovah in a normal manner on earth. God in the Age of Law could be neither seen nor touched by man. Because all He did was to guide the earliest people corrupted by Satan, teaching and shepherding them, His words contained nothing but laws, statutes, and the norms of human behavior, and did not provide them with the truths of life. The Israelites under His leadership had not been profoundly corrupted by Satan. His work of law was only the very first stage in the work of salvation, the very beginning of the work of salvation, and had practically nothing to do with changes in the life disposition of man. Therefore, there was no need at the beginning of the work of salvation for Him to assume flesh for His work in Israel. This is why He required a medium—a tool—through which to engage with man. Thus, there arose among created beings those who spoke and worked on behalf of Jehovah, which is how the sons of man and prophets came to work among man. The sons of man worked among man on behalf of Jehovah. To be called “sons of man” by Jehovah means that such people set forth the laws on behalf of Jehovah. They were also priests among the people of Israel, priests who were watched over and protected by Jehovah, and in whom the Spirit of Jehovah worked; they were leaders among the people and directly served Jehovah. The prophets, on the other hand, were dedicated to speaking, on behalf of Jehovah, to the people of all lands and tribes. They also prophesied the work of Jehovah. Be they the sons of man or the prophets, all were raised up by the Spirit of Jehovah Himself and had the work of Jehovah in them. Among the people, they were the ones who directly represented Jehovah; they did their work only because they were raised up by Jehovah and not because they were the flesh in which the Holy Spirit Himself was incarnated. Therefore, though they were alike in speaking and working on behalf of God, those sons of man and prophets in the Age of Law were not the flesh of God incarnate. God’s work in the Age of Grace and the last stage was precisely the opposite, for the work of salvation and judgment of man were both done by God incarnate Himself, and so there was simply no need to raise up once more the prophets and sons of man to work on His behalf. In the eyes of man, there are no essential differences between the essence and the method of their work. And it is for this reason that people are constantly confusing the work of God incarnate with that of the prophets and sons of man. The appearance of God incarnate was basically the same as that of the prophets and sons of man. And God incarnate was even more normal and more real than the prophets. Hence, man is incapable of distinguishing between them. Man focuses solely on appearances, completely unaware that, even though the two are alike in being working and speaking, there is an essential difference between them. Because man’s ability to tell things apart is too poor, he is unable to distinguish between simple issues, much less something so complex. When the prophets and those people used by the Holy Spirit spoke and worked, this was to carry out the duties of man, it was to serve the function of a created being, and it was something that man ought to do. However, the words and the work of God incarnate were to carry out His ministry. Though His external form was that of a created being, His work was not to carry out His function but His ministry. The term “duty” is used with regard to created beings, whereas “ministry” is used with regard to the flesh of God incarnate. There is a substantive difference between the two; they are not interchangeable. The work of man is only to do his duty, whereas the work of God is to manage, and to carry out His ministry. Therefore, though many apostles were used by the Holy Spirit and many prophets were filled with Him, their work and words were merely to perform their duty as created beings. Their prophecies may have exceeded the way of life spoken of by God incarnate, and their humanity may have even transcended that of God incarnate, but they were still doing their duty, and not fulfilling a ministry. The duty of man refers to the function of man; it is what is attainable by man. However, the ministry carried out by God incarnate is related to His management, and this is unattainable by man. Whether God incarnate speaks, works, or manifests wonders, He is doing great work amidst His management, and such work cannot be done by man in His stead. The work of man is only to do his duty as a created being in a given stage of God’s work of management. Without God’s management, that is, if the ministry of God incarnate were to be lost, the duty of a created being would be lost. God’s work in carrying out His ministry is to manage man, whereas man’s performance of his duty is the fulfillment of his own obligation to meet the demands of the Creator, and can in no way be considered the carrying out of one’s ministry. To the inherent substance of God—to His Spirit—the work of God is His management, but to God incarnate, who wears the external form of a created being, His work is the carrying out of His ministry. Whatever work He does is to carry out His ministry; all that man can do is to give his best within the scope of God’s management and under His guidance.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Difference Between the Ministry of God Incarnate and the Duty of Man

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 161

In the Age of Grace, Jesus also spoke many words and did much work. How was He different from Isaiah? How was He different from Daniel? Was He a prophet? Why is it said that He is Christ? What are the differences between them? They were all men who spoke words, and their words appeared more or less the same to man. They all spoke words and did work. The prophets of the Old Testament spoke prophecies, and similarly, so could Jesus. Why is this so? The distinction here is based on the nature of the work. To discern this matter, you must not consider the nature of the flesh, nor should you consider the depth or superficiality of their words. Always you must first consider their work and the effects their work achieves in man. The prophecies spoken by the prophets at the time did not supply the life of man, and the inspirations received by those such as Isaiah and Daniel were merely prophecies, and not the way of life. If not for the direct revelation of Jehovah, none could have done that work, which is not possible for mortals. Jesus, too, spoke many words, but such words were the way of life from which man could find a path to practice. That is to say, first, He could supply the life of man, for Jesus is life; second, He could reverse the deviations of man; third, His work could succeed that of Jehovah in order to carry on the age; fourth, He could grasp the needs within man and understand what man lacks; fifth, He could usher in a new age and conclude the old. That is why He is called God and Christ; not only is He different from Isaiah but also from all other prophets. Take Isaiah as a comparison for the work of the prophets. First, he could not supply the life of man; second, he could not usher in a new age. He was working under the leadership of Jehovah and not to usher in a new age. Third, the words he spoke were beyond him. He was receiving revelations directly from the Spirit of God, and others would not understand, even having listened to them. These few things alone are sufficient to prove that his words were no more than prophecies, no more than an aspect of work done in Jehovah’s stead. He could not, however, completely represent Jehovah. He was Jehovah’s servant, an instrument in Jehovah’s work. He was only doing work within the Age of Law and within the scope of the work of Jehovah; he did not work beyond the Age of Law. On the contrary, the work of Jesus differed. He surpassed the scope of Jehovah’s work; He worked as God incarnate and underwent crucifixion in order to redeem all mankind. That is to say, He carried out new work outside of the work done by Jehovah. This was the ushering in of a new age. In addition, He was able to speak of that which man could not achieve. His work was work within the management of God and involved the whole of mankind. He did not work in just a few men, nor was His work meant to lead a limited number of men. As for how God was incarnated as a man, how the Spirit gave revelations at that time, and how the Spirit descended upon a man to do work—these are matters that man cannot see or touch. It is utterly impossible for these truths to serve as proof that He is God incarnate. As such, distinction can only be made among the words and work of God, which are tangible to man. Only this is real. This is because matters of the Spirit are not visible to you and are known clearly only by God Himself, and not even God’s incarnate flesh knows all; you can only verify whether He is God from the work He has done. From His work, it can be seen that, first, He is able to open up a new age; second, He is able to supply the life of man and show man the way to follow. This is sufficient to establish that He is God Himself. At the very least, the work He does can fully represent the Spirit of God, and from such work it can be seen that the Spirit of God is within Him. As the work done by God incarnate was mainly to usher in a new age, lead new work, and open up a new realm, these alone are sufficient to establish that He is God Himself. This thus differentiates Him from Isaiah, Daniel, and the other great prophets. Isaiah, Daniel, and the others were all of a class of highly educated and cultured men; they were extraordinary men under the leadership of Jehovah. The flesh of God incarnate too was knowledgeable and had no lack of sense, but His humanity was particularly normal. He was an ordinary man, and the naked eye could not discern any special humanity about Him or detect anything in His humanity unlike that of others. He was not at all supernatural or unique, and He did not possess any higher education, knowledge, or theory. The life He spoke of and the path He led were not gained through theory, through knowledge, through life experience, or through family upbringing. Rather, they were the direct work of the Spirit, which is the work of the incarnate flesh. It is because man has great notions of God, and particularly because these notions are made of too many vague and supernatural elements that, in the eyes of man, a normal God with human weakness, who cannot work signs and wonders, is assuredly not God. Are these not the erroneous notions of man? If the flesh of God incarnate was not a normal man, then how could He be said to have become flesh? To be of the flesh is to be an ordinary, normal man; if He had been a transcendent being, then He would not have been of the flesh. To prove that He is of the flesh, God incarnate needed to possess normal flesh. This was simply to complete the significance of the incarnation. However, this was not the case for the prophets and sons of man. They were gifted men used by the Holy Spirit; in the eyes of man, their humanity was particularly great, and they performed many acts that surpassed normal humanity. For this reason, man regarded them as God. Now you all must understand this clearly, for it has been the issue most easily confused by all men in ages past. Additionally, the incarnation is the most mysterious of all things, and God incarnate is the most difficult for man to accept. What I say is conducive to fulfilling your function and your understanding the mystery of the incarnation. This is all related to God’s management, to the visions. Your understanding of this will be more beneficial to gaining knowledge of the visions, that is, God’s work of management. In this way, you will also gain much understanding of the duty that different kinds of people ought to perform. Though these words do not directly show you the way, they are still of great help to your entry, for your lives at present are much lacking in visions, and this will become a significant obstacle preventing your entry. If you have been unable to understand these issues, then there will be no motivation driving your entry. And how can such a pursuit enable you best to fulfill your duty?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Difference Between the Ministry of God Incarnate and the Duty of Man

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 162

Some people will ask, “What is the difference between the work done by God incarnate and that of the prophets and apostles of times past? David was also called the Lord, and so too was Jesus; although the work they did was different, they were called the same thing. Tell me, why were their identities not the same? What John witnessed was a vision, one that also came from the Holy Spirit, and he was able to say the words that the Holy Spirit intended to say; why was the identity of John different from that of Jesus?” The words spoken by Jesus were able to fully represent God, and they fully represented the work of God. What John saw was a vision, and he was incapable of completely representing the work of God. Why is it that John, Peter, and Paul spoke many words, as Jesus did, and yet they did not have the same identity as Jesus? It is chiefly because the work they did was different. Jesus represented the Spirit of God and was the Spirit of God working directly. He did the work of the new age, the work that no one had done before. He opened up a new way, He represented Jehovah, and He represented God Himself, whereas with Peter, Paul, and David, regardless of what they were called, they only represented the identity of a creature of God, and were sent by Jesus or Jehovah. So no matter how much work they did, no matter how great the miracles they performed, they were still just creatures of God, and incapable of representing the Spirit of God. They worked in the name of God or worked after being sent by God; furthermore, they worked in the ages begun by Jesus or Jehovah, and they did no other work. They were, after all, merely creatures of God. In the Old Testament, many prophets spoke predictions, or wrote books of prophecy. No one said that they were God, but as soon as Jesus started to work, the Spirit of God bore testimony to Him as God. Why is that? At this point you should already know! Before, the apostles and prophets wrote various epistles, and made many prophecies. Later on, people chose some of them to put in the Bible, and some were lost. Since there are people who say that everything spoken by them came from the Holy Spirit, why is some of it considered good, and some of it considered bad? And why were some chosen, and others not? If they were indeed the words spoken by the Holy Spirit, would it be necessary for people to choose them? Why are the accounts of the words spoken by Jesus and the work He did different in each of the Four Gospels? Is this not the fault of those who recorded them? Some people will ask, “Since the epistles written by Paul and the other authors of the New Testament and the work that they did partly arose from the will of man, and were adulterated by the notions of man, then does there not exist human impurity in the words that You (God) speak today? Do they really contain none of the notions of man?” This stage of the work done by God is completely different from that done by Paul and the many apostles and prophets. Not only is there a difference in identity, but, principally, there is a difference in the work that is carried out. After Paul was struck down and fell before the Lord, he was led by the Holy Spirit to work, and he became one who had been sent. He therefore wrote epistles to the churches, and these epistles all followed the teachings of Jesus. Paul was sent by the Lord to work in the name of the Lord Jesus, but when God Himself came, He did not work in any name, and represented none but the Spirit of God in His work. God came to do His work directly: He was not perfected by man, and His work was not carried out upon the teachings of any man. In this stage of work God does not lead by talking of His personal experiences, but instead carries out His work directly, according to what He has. For example, the trial of the service-doers, the time of chastisement, the trial of death, the time of loving God…. This is all work that has never been done before, and is work that is of the present age, rather than of the experiences of man. In the words I have spoken, which are the experiences of man? Do they not all come directly from the Spirit, and are they not issued forth by the Spirit? It is just that your caliber is so poor that you are unable to see through to the truth! The practical way of life that I speak of is to guide the path, and has never been spoken by anyone before, nor has anyone ever experienced this path, or known of this reality. Before I uttered these words, no one had ever spoken them. No one had ever talked of such experiences, nor had they ever spoken such details, and, furthermore, no one had ever pointed out such states to reveal these things. No one had ever led the path that I lead today, and if it were led by man, then it would not be a new way. Take Paul and Peter, for example. They did not have their own personal experiences before Jesus led the path. It was only after Jesus led the path that they experienced the words spoken by Jesus, and the path led by Him; from this they gained many experiences, and they wrote the epistles. And so, the experiences of man are not the same as the work of God, and the work of God is not the same as the knowledge described by the notions and experiences of man. I have said, time and again, that today I am leading a new path, and doing new work, and My work and utterances are different from those of John and all the other prophets. Never do I first gain experiences and then speak of them to you—that is not the case at all. If it was, would that not have delayed you long ago? In the past, the knowledge that many spoke of was also exalted, but all of their words were only spoken based upon those of the so-called spiritual figures. They did not guide the way, but came from their experiences, came from what they had seen, and from their knowledge. Some were of their notions, and some consisted of experience that they had summarized. Today, the nature of My work is totally different from theirs. I have not experienced being led by others, nor have I accepted being perfected by others. Furthermore, all that I have spoken and fellowshiped is unlike that of anyone else and has never been spoken by anyone else. Today, regardless of who you are, your work is carried out upon the basis of the words I speak. Without these utterances and work, who would be capable of experiencing these things (the trial of the service-doers, the time of chastisement…), and who would be able to speak of such knowledge? Are you really incapable of seeing this? Regardless of the step of work, as soon as My words are spoken, you begin to fellowship in accordance with My words, and work according to them, and it is not a way that any one of you has thought of. Having come this far, are you incapable of seeing such a clear and simple question? It is not a way that someone has thought up, nor is it based on that of any spiritual figure. It is a new path, and even many of the words once spoken by Jesus no longer apply. What I speak is the work of opening a new epoch, and it is work that stands alone; the work that I do, and the words that I speak, are all new. Is this not the new work of today? The work of Jesus was also like this. His work was also different from that of the people in the temple, and so too did it differ from the work of the Pharisees, nor did it bear any resemblance to that done by all the people of Israel. After witnessing it, people could not make up their minds: “Was it really done by God?” Jesus did not hold to the law of Jehovah; when He came to teach man, all that He spoke was new and different to what was said by the ancient saints and prophets of the Old Testament, and because of this, people remained uncertain. This is what makes man so hard to deal with. Prior to accepting this new stage of work, the path that the majority of you walked was to practice and enter upon the foundation of that of those spiritual figures. But today, the work that I do is greatly different, and so you are unable to decide whether it is right or not. I care not what path you walked before, nor am I interested in whose “food” you ate, or whom you took as your “father.” Since I have come and brought new work to guide man, all who follow Me must act in accordance with what I say. No matter how powerful the “family” you hail from, you must follow Me, you must not act according to your former practices, your “foster father” should step down, and you should come before your God to seek your rightful share. The entirety of you is in My hands, and you should not devote too much blind belief to your foster father; he cannot completely control you. The work of today stands alone. All that I say today is obviously not based upon a foundation from the past; it is a new beginning, and if you say that it is created by the hand of man, then you are one who is so blind as to be beyond saving!

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Concerning Appellations and Identity

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 163

Isaiah, Ezekiel, Moses, David, Abraham, and Daniel were leaders or prophets among the chosen people of Israel. Why were they not called God? Why did the Holy Spirit not bear testimony to them? Why did the Holy Spirit bear testimony to Jesus as soon as He began His work and started to speak His words? And why did the Holy Spirit not bear testimony to others? They, men who were of flesh, were all called “Lord.” Regardless of what they were called, their work represents their being and essence, and their being and essence represent their identity. Their essence is not related to their appellations; it is represented by what they expressed, and what they lived out. In the Old Testament, there was nothing out of the ordinary in being called Lord, and a person might be called in any which way, but his essence and inherent identity were immutable. Among those false Christs, false prophets, and deceivers, are there not also those who are called “God”? And why are they not God? Because they are incapable of doing the work of God. At root they are human, deceivers of people, not God, and so they do not have the identity of God. Was David not also called Lord among the twelve tribes? Jesus was also called Lord; why was Jesus alone called God incarnate? Was Jeremiah not also known as the Son of man? And was Jesus not known as the Son of man? Why was Jesus crucified on behalf of God? Is it not because His essence was different? Is it not because the work that He did was different? Does a title matter? Although Jesus was also called the Son of man, He was the first incarnation of God, He had come to assume power, and accomplish the work of redemption. This proves that the identity and essence of Jesus were different from others who were also called the Son of man. Today, who among you dare to say that all the words spoken by those who were used by the Holy Spirit came from the Holy Spirit? Does anyone dare to say such things? If you do say such things, then why was Ezra’s book of prophecy discarded, and why was the same thing done to the books of those ancient saints and prophets? If they all came from the Holy Spirit, then why do you dare to make such capricious choices? Are you qualified to choose the work of the Holy Spirit? Many stories from Israel were also discarded. And if you believe that these writings of the past all came from the Holy Spirit, then why were some of the books discarded? If they all came from the Holy Spirit, they should all have been kept, and sent to the brothers and sisters of the churches to read. They should not have been chosen or discarded by human will; it is wrong to do that. Saying that the experiences of Paul and John were mixed with their personal insights does not mean that their experiences and knowledge came from Satan, but only that they had things that came from their personal experiences and insights. Their knowledge was according to the background of their actual experiences at the time, and who could confidently say that all of it came from the Holy Spirit? If the Four Gospels all came from the Holy Spirit, then why is it that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John each said something different about the work of Jesus? If you do not believe this, then look at the accounts in the Bible of how Peter denied the Lord three times: They are all different, and they each have their own characteristics. Many who are ignorant say, “God incarnate is also a man, so can the words He speaks completely come from the Holy Spirit? If the words of Paul and John were mixed with human will, then are the words that He speaks really not mixed with human will?” People who say such things are blind and ignorant! Carefully read the Four Gospels; read what they recorded about the things that Jesus did, and the words He spoke. Each account is quite simply different, and each has its own perspective. If what was written by the authors of these books all came from the Holy Spirit, then it should all be the same and consistent. Why then are there discrepancies? Is man not extremely foolish, to be unable to see this? If you are asked to bear testimony to God, what kind of testimony can you provide? Can such a way of knowing God bear testimony to Him? If others ask you, “If the records of John and Luke were mixed with human will, then are the words spoken by your God not mixed with human will?” would you be able to give a clear answer? After Luke and Matthew had heard the words of Jesus, and seen the work of Jesus, they spoke of their own knowledge, in the manner of reminiscences detailing some of the facts of the work done by Jesus. Can you say that their knowledge was completely revealed by the Holy Spirit? Outside of the Bible, there were many spiritual figures with a higher knowledge than them, so why were their words not taken up by later generations? Were they not also used by the Holy Spirit? Know that in the work of today, I am not speaking of My own insights based upon the foundation of Jesus’ work, nor am I speaking of My own knowledge against the background of Jesus’ work. What work did Jesus do at that time? And what work am I doing today? What I do and say have no precedent. The path that I walk today has never been trodden before, it has never been walked by the people of ages and generations past. Today, it has been launched, and is this not the work of the Spirit? Even though it was the work of the Holy Spirit, the leaders of the past all carried out their work upon the foundation of others; however, the work of God Himself is different. The stage of Jesus’ work was the same: He opened up a new way. When He came, He preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and said that man should repent and confess. After Jesus completed His work, Peter and Paul and others began to carry on the work of Jesus. After Jesus was nailed to the cross and ascended to heaven, they were sent by the Spirit to spread the way of the cross. Even though the words of Paul were exalted, they were also based upon the foundation laid by what Jesus had said, such as patience, love, suffering, head-covering, baptism, or other doctrines to be followed. All this was spoken upon the foundation of the words of Jesus. They were incapable of opening a new way, for they were all men used by God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Concerning Appellations and Identity

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 164

Jesus’ utterances and work at the time did not hold to doctrine, and He did not carry out His work according to the work of the law of the Old Testament. It was carried out according to the work that should be done in the Age of Grace. He labored according to the work that He had brought forth, according to His own plan, and according to His ministry; He did not work according to the law of the Old Testament. Nothing that He did was according to the law of the Old Testament, and He did not come to work to fulfill the words of the prophets. Each stage of God’s work was not performed expressly in order to fulfill the predictions of the ancient prophets, and He did not come to abide by doctrine or deliberately realize the predictions of the ancient prophets. Yet His actions did not disrupt the predictions of the ancient prophets, nor did they disturb the work that He had previously done. The salient point of His work was not abiding by any doctrine, and instead doing the work that He Himself should do. He was not a prophet or a seer, but a doer, who actually came to do the work He was supposed to do, and He came to launch His new era and carry out His new work. Of course, when Jesus came to do His work, He also fulfilled many of the words spoken by the ancient prophets in the Old Testament. So too has the work of today fulfilled the predictions of the ancient prophets of the Old Testament. It is just that I do not hold up that “old almanac,” that is all. For there is more work that I must do, there are more words that I must speak to you, and this work and these words are of far greater importance than explaining passages from the Bible, because work such as that has no great significance or value for you, and cannot help you, or change you. I intend to do new work not for the sake of fulfilling any passage from the Bible. If God only came to earth to fulfill the words of the ancient prophets of the Bible, then who is greater, God incarnate or those ancient prophets? After all, are the prophets in charge of God, or is God in charge of the prophets? How do you explain these words?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Concerning Appellations and Identity

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 165

Every step of God’s work follows one and the same stream, and so in God’s six-thousand-year management plan, each step has been closely followed by the next, from the foundation of the world right up until today. If there were no one to pave the way, then there would be no one to come after; since there are those who come after, there are those who pave the way. In this way the work has been passed down, step-by-step. One step follows the other, and without someone to open the way, it would be impossible to begin the work, and God would have no means of taking His work forward. No step contradicts the other, and each follows the other in sequence to form a stream; this is all done by the same Spirit. But regardless of whether someone opens the way or carries on the work of another, this does not determine their identity. Is this not right? John opened the way, and Jesus carried on his work, so does this prove that the identity of Jesus is lower than that of John? Jehovah carried out His work before Jesus, so can you say that Jehovah is greater than Jesus? Whether they paved the way or carried on the work of others is not important; what is most important is the essence of their work, and the identity that it represents. Is this not right? Since God intended to work among man, He had to raise up those who could do the work of paving the way. When John had just begun to preach, he said, “Prepare you the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.” “Repent you: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He spoke thus from the very beginning, and why was he able to say these words? In terms of the order in which these words were spoken, it was John who first spoke the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, and Jesus who spoke afterward. According to the notions of man, it was John who opened up the new path, and so of course John was greater than Jesus. But John did not say he was Christ, and God did not bear testimony to him as the beloved Son of God, but merely used him to open up the way and prepare the way for the Lord. He paved the way for Jesus, but he could not work on behalf of Jesus. All the work of man was also maintained by the Holy Spirit.

In the age of the Old Testament, it was Jehovah who led the way, and the work of Jehovah represented the entire age of the Old Testament, and all of the work done in Israel. Moses merely upheld this work on earth, and his labors are considered to be the cooperation provided by man. At the time, it was Jehovah who spoke, calling to Moses, and He raised Moses up among the people of Israel, and made him lead them into the wilderness and on to Canaan. This was not the work of Moses himself, but that which was personally directed by Jehovah, and so Moses cannot be called God. Moses also set down the law, but this law was personally decreed by Jehovah. It was just that He had Moses express it. Jesus also made commandments, and He abolished the law of the Old Testament and set out the commandments for the new age. Why is Jesus God Himself? Because there is a difference. At the time, the work done by Moses did not represent the age, nor did it open a new way; he was directed ahead by Jehovah and was merely one who was used by God. When Jesus came, John had carried out a step of work of paving the way and had begun to spread the gospel of the kingdom of heaven (the Holy Spirit had started this). When Jesus came, He directly did His own work, but there was a great difference between His work and Moses’ work. Isaiah also spoke many prophecies, yet why was he not God Himself? Jesus did not speak so many prophecies, yet why was He God Himself? No one dared to say that the work of Jesus at that time all came from the Holy Spirit, nor did they dare to say it all came from the will of man, or that it was totally the work of God Himself. Man had no way of analyzing such things. It can be said that Isaiah did such work, and spoke such prophecies, and they all came from the Holy Spirit; they did not come directly from Isaiah himself, but were revelations from Jehovah. Jesus did not do a great amount of work, and did not say many words, nor did He speak many prophecies. To man, His preaching did not seem particularly exalted, yet He was God Himself, and this is inexplicable by man. No one has ever believed in John, or Isaiah, or David, nor has anyone ever called them God, or David the God, or John the God; no one has ever spoken thus, and only Jesus has ever been called Christ. This classification is made according to God’s testimony, the work He undertook, and the ministry He performed. With regard to the great men of the Bible—Abraham, David, Joshua, Daniel, Isaiah, John and Jesus—through the work they did, you can tell who is God Himself, and which kinds of people are prophets, and which are apostles. Who was used by God, and who was God Himself, is differentiated and determined by the essence and kind of work they did. If you are unable to tell the difference, then this proves that you do not know what it means to believe in God. Jesus is God because He spoke so many words, and did so much work, in particular His demonstration of many miracles. Likewise, John, too, did much work, and spoke many words, as did Moses; why were they not called God? Adam was created directly by God; why was he not called God, instead of only being called a creature? If someone says to you, “Today, God has done so much work, and spoken so many words; He is God Himself. Then, since Moses spoke so many words, he too must have been God Himself!” you should ask them in return, “At that time, why did God bear testimony to Jesus, and not John, as God Himself? Did John not come before Jesus? Which was greater, the work of John or Jesus? To man, John’s work appears greater than Jesus’, but why did the Holy Spirit bear testimony to Jesus, and not John?” The same thing is happening today! At that time, when Moses led the people of Israel, Jehovah spoke to him from amongst the clouds. Moses did not speak directly, but instead was guided directly by Jehovah. This was the work of the Israel of the Old Testament. Within Moses there was not the Spirit, nor God’s being. He could not do that work, and so there is a great difference between the work done by him and the work done by Jesus. And that is because the work they did was different! Whether someone is used by God, or is a prophet, an apostle, or God Himself, can be discerned by the nature of his work, and this will put an end to your doubts. In the Bible it is written that only the Lamb can open the seven seals. Throughout the ages, there have been many expositors of the scriptures among those great figures, and so can you say that they are all the Lamb? Can you say that their explanations all come from God? They are merely expositors; they do not have the identity of the Lamb. How could they be worthy to open the seven seals? It is true that “Only the Lamb can open the seven seals,” but He does not only come to open the seven seals; there is no necessity to this work, it is done incidentally. He is perfectly clear about His own work; is it necessary for Him to spend much time interpreting the scriptures? Must “the Age of the Lamb Interpreting the Scriptures” be added to the six thousand years of work? He comes to do new work, but He also provides some revelations about the work of times past, making people understand the truth of six thousand years of work. There is no need to explain too many passages from the Bible; it is the work of today that is key, that is important. You should know that God does not come to especially break the seven seals, but to do the work of salvation.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Concerning Appellations and Identity

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 166

In the Age of Grace, John paved the way for Jesus. John could not do the work of God Himself but merely fulfilled the duty of man. Though John was the forerunner of the Lord, he was unable to represent God; he was only a man used by the Holy Spirit. After Jesus was baptized, the Holy Spirit descended upon Him like a dove. He then began His work, that is, He began to perform the ministry of Christ. That is why He assumed the identity of God, for it was from God that He came. No matter what His faith was like before this—it may have been weak at times, or strong at times—that all belonged to the normal human life He led before performing His ministry. After He was baptized (that is, anointed), the power and the glory of God were immediately with Him, and so He began to perform His ministry. He could work signs and wonders, perform miracles, and He had power and authority, for He was working directly on behalf of God Himself; He was doing the work of the Spirit in His stead and expressing the voice of the Spirit. Therefore, He was God Himself; this is indisputable. John was someone who was used by the Holy Spirit. He could not represent God, nor was it possible for him to represent God. If he had wished to do so, the Holy Spirit would not have allowed it, for he was unable to do the work that God Himself intended to accomplish. Perhaps there was much in him that was of man’s will, or something that was deviant; under no circumstances could he directly represent God. His mistakes and absurdity represented only himself, but his work was representative of the Holy Spirit. Yet, you cannot say that all of him represented God. Could his deviation and erroneousness represent God as well? To be erroneous in representing man is normal, but if one is deviant in representing God, then would that not dishonor God? Would that not be blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit does not lightly allow man to stand in God’s place, even if he is exalted by others. If he is not God, he would be unable to stand fast in the end. The Holy Spirit does not allow man to represent God as man pleases! For instance, it was the Holy Spirit that bore witness to John and it was also the Holy Spirit that revealed him to be the one to pave the way for Jesus, but the work done upon him by the Holy Spirit was well measured. All that was asked of John was to be the way-paver for Jesus, to prepare the way for Him. That is to say, the Holy Spirit only upheld his work in paving the way and allowed him only to do such work—he was allowed to do no other work. John represented Elijah, and he represented a prophet who paved the way. The Holy Spirit upheld him in this; as long as his work was to pave the way, the Holy Spirit upheld him. However, if he had laid claim to being God Himself and said that he had come to finish the work of redemption, the Holy Spirit would have had to discipline him. No matter how great the work of John, and even though it was upheld by the Holy Spirit, his work was not without boundaries. Granted that the Holy Spirit did indeed uphold his work, the power given him at the time was limited to his paving the way. He could not, at all, do any other work, for he was only John who paved the way, and not Jesus. Therefore, the testimony of the Holy Spirit is key, but the work that the Holy Spirit permits man to do is even more crucial. Had not John received resounding witness at the time? Was his work not also great? But the work he did could not surpass that of Jesus, for he was no more than a man used by the Holy Spirit and could not directly represent God, and so the work he did was limited. After he finished the work of paving the way, the Holy Spirit no longer upheld his testimony, no new work followed him, and he departed as the work of God Himself began.

There are some who are possessed by evil spirits and cry out vociferously, “I am God!” Yet, in the end, they are revealed, for they are wrong in what they represent. They represent Satan, and the Holy Spirit pays them no heed. However highly you exalt yourself or however strongly you cry out, you are still a created being and one that belongs to Satan. I never cry out, “I am God, I am the beloved Son of God!” But the work I do is God’s work. Need I shout? There is no need for exaltation. God does His own work Himself and does not need man to accord Him a status or give Him an honorific title: His work represents His identity and status. Prior to His baptism, was not Jesus God Himself? Was He not the incarnate flesh of God? Surely it cannot be said that it was only after receiving witness that He became the only Son of God? Long before He began His work, was there not already a man by the name of Jesus? You are unable to bring forth new paths or to represent the Spirit. You cannot express the work of the Spirit or the words that He speaks. You are unable to do the work of God Himself, and that of the Spirit you are unable to do. The wisdom, wonder, and unfathomability of God, and the entirety of the disposition by which God chastises man—all of these are beyond your capacity to express. It would therefore be useless to try to claim to be God; you would have only the name and none of the substance. God Himself has come, but no one recognizes Him, yet He continues on in His work and does so in representation of the Spirit. Whether you call Him man or God, the Lord or Christ, or call Her sister, it does not matter. But the work He does is that of the Spirit and represents the work of God Himself. He does not care about the name by which man calls Him. Can that name determine His work? Regardless of what you call Him, as far as God is concerned, He is the incarnate flesh of the Spirit of God; He represents the Spirit and is approved by the Spirit. If you are unable to make way for a new age, or to bring the old to an end, or to usher in a new age, or to do new work, then you cannot be called God!

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 167

Even a man who is used by the Holy Spirit cannot represent God Himself. This is not only to say that such a man cannot represent God, but also that the work he does cannot directly represent God. In other words, human experience cannot be placed directly within the management of God, and it cannot represent the management of God. The work that God Himself does is entirely the work He intends to do in His own management plan and it pertains to the great management. The work done by man consists of supplying their individual experience. It consists of finding out a new path of experience beyond that trodden by those who have gone before, and of guiding their brothers and sisters while under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. What these people supply is their individual experience or the spiritual writings of spiritual people. Although these people are used by the Holy Spirit, the work they do is unrelated to the great work of management in the six-thousand-year plan. They are merely those who have been raised up by the Holy Spirit in different periods to lead the people in the stream of the Holy Spirit, until the functions they can perform are at an end or until their lives come to an end. The work they do is only to prepare an appropriate path for God Himself or to continue a certain aspect of the management of God Himself on earth. In themselves, these people are unable to do the greater work of His management, nor can they open up new ways out, even less can any of them bring to a conclusion all of God’s work from the former age. Therefore, the work they do represents only a created being performing his function and cannot represent God Himself performing His ministry. This is because the work they do is unlike that done by God Himself. The work of ushering in a new age is not something that can be done by man in God’s place. It cannot be done by any other than God Himself. All the work done by man consists of performing his duty as a created being and is done when he is moved or enlightened by the Holy Spirit. The guidance that these people provide consists entirely of showing man the path of practice in daily life and how he should act in harmony with the will of God. The work of man neither involves the management of God nor represents the work of the Spirit. As an example, the work of Witness Lee and Watchman Nee was to lead the way. Be the way new or old, the work was premised upon the principle of remaining within the Bible. Whether it was to restore the local church or build the local church, their work had to do with establishing churches. The work they did carried on the work that Jesus and His apostles had left unfinished or had not further developed in the Age of Grace. What they did in their work was to restore what Jesus had, in His work of the time, asked of the generations coming after Him, such as keeping their heads covered, receiving baptism, breaking bread, or drinking wine. It could be said that their work was to keep to the Bible and to seek paths within the Bible. They made no new advances of any kind. Therefore, one can see in their work only the discovery of new ways within the Bible, as well as better and more realistic practices. But one cannot find in their work the present will of God, much less find the new work that God in the last days plans to do. This is because the path they walked was still an old one—there was no renewal and no advancement. They continued to hold onto the fact of the crucifixion of Jesus, to observe the practice of asking people to repent and confess their sins, to adhere to the sayings that he who endures to the end shall be saved and that man is the head of woman, and woman must obey her husband, and even more to the traditional notion that sisters cannot preach, but only obey. If such manner of leadership had continued to be observed, the Holy Spirit would never have been able to carry out new work, to set people free from rules, or to lead them into a realm of freedom and beauty. Therefore, this stage of work, which changes the age, requires that God Himself work and speak; otherwise no man can do so in His stead. Thus far, all the work of the Holy Spirit outside of this stream has come to a standstill, and those who were used by the Holy Spirit have lost their bearings. Therefore, since the work of the people used by the Holy Spirit is unlike the work done by God Himself, their identities and the subjects on behalf of whom they act are likewise different. This is because the work the Holy Spirit intends to do is different, and on this account those who alike do work are accorded different identities and statuses. The people used by the Holy Spirit may also do some work that is new and may also eliminate some work done in the former age, but what they do cannot express the disposition and the will of God in the new age. They work only to do away with the work of the former age, and not in order to do new work for the purpose of directly representing the disposition of God Himself. Thus, no matter how many outdated practices they abolish or how many new practices they introduce, they still represent man and created beings. When God Himself carries out work, however, He does not openly declare the abolishment of the practices of the old age or directly declare the commencement of a new age. He is direct and straightforward in His work. He is forthright in performing the work He intends to do; that is, He directly expresses the work that He has brought about, directly does His work as originally intended, expressing His being and disposition. As man sees it, His disposition and so too His work differ from those in ages past. However, from the perspective of God Himself, this is merely a continuation and further development of His work. When God Himself works, He expresses His word and directly brings the new work. In contrast, when man works, it is through deliberation and study, or it is an extension of knowledge and systematization of practice founded on the work of others. That is to say, the essence of the work done by man is to follow an established order and to “walk old paths in new shoes.” This means that even the path walked by the people used by the Holy Spirit is built upon that launched by God Himself. So, when all is said and done, man is still man, and God is still God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 168

John was born by promise, much as Isaac was born to Abraham. He paved the way for Jesus and did much work, but he was not God. Rather, he was one of the prophets, because he only paved the way for Jesus. His work was also great, and it was only after he had paved the way that Jesus officially began His work. In essence, he simply labored for Jesus, and the work he did was in service to the work of Jesus. After he had finished paving the way, Jesus began His work, work that was newer, more concrete, and more detailed. John did only the initial portion of the work; the greater part of the new work was done by Jesus. John did new work as well, but he was not the one who ushered in a new age. John was born by promise, and his name was given by the angel. At the time, some wanted to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke out, saying, “This child cannot be called by that name. He should be called John.” This was all at the behest of the Holy Spirit. Jesus was also named at the behest of the Holy Spirit, He was born of the Holy Spirit, and He was promised by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was God, Christ, and the Son of man. But, the work of John also being great, why was he not called God? Exactly what was the difference between the work done by Jesus and that done by John? Was the only reason that John was the one who paved the way for Jesus? Or because this had been predestined by God? Though John also said, “Repent you: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” and he too preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven, his work was not further developed and merely constituted a beginning. In contrast, Jesus ushered in a new age as well as bringing the old to an end, but He also fulfilled the law of the Old Testament. The work He did was greater than that of John, and what is more He came to redeem all mankind—He accomplished that stage of work. As for John, he simply prepared the way. Though his work was great, his words many, and those disciples who followed him numerous, his work did no more than bring to man a new beginning. Never did man receive from him life, the way, or deeper truths, nor did man gain through him an understanding of the will of God. John was a great prophet (Elijah) who opened up new ground for Jesus’ work and prepared the chosen; he was the forerunner of the Age of Grace. Such matters cannot be discerned simply by observing their normal human appearances. This is all the more apt as John also did work that was quite considerable and, moreover, he was promised by the Holy Spirit, and his work was upheld by the Holy Spirit. This being so, it is only through the work that they do that one can distinguish between their respective identities, for there is no way to tell a man’s essence from his outward appearance, nor is there any way for man to ascertain what is the testimony of the Holy Spirit. The work done by John and that done by Jesus were dissimilar and were of different natures. It is from this that one may determine whether or not John was God. The work of Jesus was to initiate, to continue, to conclude, and to bring to fruition. He carried out each of these steps, whereas the work of John was no more than making a beginning. In the beginning, Jesus spread the gospel and preached the way of repentance, and then went on to baptize man, heal the sick, and cast out demons. In the end, He redeemed mankind from sin and completed His work for the entire age. He also went about in every place, preaching to man and spreading the gospel of the kingdom of heaven. In this regard He and John were alike, the difference being that Jesus ushered in a new age and brought the Age of Grace to man. From His mouth came the word on what man should practice and the way that man should follow in the Age of Grace, and in the end, He finished the work of redemption. John could never have carried out this work. And so it was Jesus who did the work of God Himself, and it is He who is God Himself, and who directly represents God. The notions of man say that all those who are born by promise, born of the Spirit, upheld by the Holy Spirit, and who open up new ways out are God. According to this reasoning, John too would be God, and Moses, Abraham, and David…, they too would all be God. Is this not a consummate joke?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 169

Some may wonder, “Why must the age be ushered in by God Himself? Cannot a created being stand in His stead?” You are all aware that God becomes flesh for the express purpose of ushering in a new age, and, of course, when He ushers in a new age, He will have concluded the former age at the same time. God is the Beginning and the End; it is He Himself who sets His work in motion and so it must be He Himself who concludes the former age. That is the proof of His defeat of Satan and of His conquest of the world. Each time He Himself works among man, it is the start of a new battle. Without the beginning of new work, there would naturally be no conclusion of the old. And when there is no conclusion of the old, this is proof that the battle with Satan is yet to come to an end. Only if God Himself comes, and carries out new work among man, can man break completely free of the domain of Satan and gain a new life and a new beginning. Otherwise, man shall forever live in the old age and forever live under the old influence of Satan. With every age led by God, a part of man is set free, and thus man advances along with the work of God toward the new age. The victory of God means a victory for all those who follow Him. If the race of created human beings were charged with concluding the age, then be it from the viewpoint of man or of Satan, this would be no more than an act of opposing or betraying God, not one of obedience to God, and the work of man would become a tool for Satan. Only if man obeys and follows God in an age ushered in by God Himself can Satan be fully convinced, for that is the duty of a created being. Therefore, I say that you need only follow and obey, and no more is required of you. This is what is meant by each keeping to his duty and each performing his respective function. God does His own work and has no need for man to do it in His stead, nor does He participate in the work of created beings. Man performs his own duty and does not participate in the work of God. Only this is obedience, and proof of Satan’s defeat. After God Himself has finished ushering in the new age, He no longer comes down to work in the midst of mankind Himself. It is only then that man officially steps into the new age to perform his duty and carry out his mission as a created being. These are the principles by which God works, which no one may transgress. Only working in this way is sensible and reasonable. The work of God is to be done by God Himself. It is He who sets His work in motion, and it is He who concludes His work. It is He who plans the work, and it is He who manages it, and even more, it is He who brings the work to fruition. As stated in the Bible, “I am the Beginning and the End; I am the Sower and the Reaper.” All that pertains to the work of His management is done by God Himself. He is the Ruler of the six-thousand-year management plan; no one can do His work in His stead and no one can bring His work to a close, for it is He who holds everything in His hand. Having created the world, He will lead the entire world to live in His light, and He will also conclude the entire age, thereby bringing His entire plan to fruition!

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (1)

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 170

The whole of God’s disposition has been revealed in the course of the six-thousand-year management plan. It is not revealed only in the Age of Grace, nor only in the Age of Law, even less so only in this period of the last days. The work carried out in the last days represents judgment, wrath, and chastisement. The work carried out in the last days cannot replace the work of the Age of Law or that of the Age of Grace. However, the three stages, interconnecting, form one entity, and all are the work of one God. Naturally, the execution of this work is divided into separate ages. The work done in the last days brings everything to a close; that done in the Age of Law was the work of commencement; and that done in the Age of Grace was the work of redemption. As for the visions of the work in this entire six-thousand-year management plan, no one is able to gain insight or understanding, and these visions remain riddles. In the last days, only the work of the word is carried out in order to usher in the Age of Kingdom, but it is not representative of all the ages. The last days are no more than the last days and no more than the Age of Kingdom, and they do not represent the Age of Grace or the Age of Law. It is just that, during the last days, all the work in the six-thousand-year management plan is revealed to you. This is the unveiling of the mystery. This kind of mystery is something that can be unveiled by no man. No matter how great an understanding man has of the Bible, it remains nothing more than words, for man does not understand the essence of the Bible. In reading the Bible, man may understand some truths, explain some words, or subject some famous passages and chapters to his petty scrutiny, but he will never be able to extricate the meaning contained within those words, for all man sees are dead words, not the scenes of the work of Jehovah and of Jesus, and man has no way of unraveling the mystery of this work. Therefore, the mystery of the six-thousand-year management plan is the greatest mystery, the most profoundly hidden, and wholly unfathomable to man. No one can directly grasp the will of God, unless God Himself explains and reveals it to man; otherwise, these things will forever remain riddles to man, remaining forever sealed mysteries. Never mind those in the religious world; if you had not been told today, you would not have grasped it either. This work of six thousand years is more mysterious than all the prophecies of the prophets. It is the greatest mystery from creation to the present, and no one among the prophets throughout the ages has ever been able to fathom it, for this mystery is only unveiled in the final age and has never before been revealed. If you can grasp this mystery, and if you are able to receive it in its entirety, then all religious persons will be vanquished by this mystery. Only this is the greatest of visions; it is that which man longs most keenly to grasp but it is also that which is most unclear to him. When you were in the Age of Grace, you did not know what the work done by Jesus or that done by Jehovah was about. People did not understand why Jehovah set forth laws, why He asked the multitude to keep the laws or why the temple had to be built, and still less did people understand why the Israelites were led from Egypt into the wilderness and then on to Canaan. It was not until this day that these matters have been revealed.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 171

No one is capable of living independently except for those who are given special direction and guidance by the Holy Spirit, for they require the ministry and shepherding of those who are used by God. Thus, in each age God raises up different people who rush busily about shepherding the churches for the sake of His work. Which is to say, God’s work must be done through those whom He looks favorably upon and approves of; the Holy Spirit must use the part within them that is worthy of use in order for the Holy Spirit to work, and they are made fit for use by God through being made perfect by the Holy Spirit. Because man’s ability to understand is too lacking, he must be shepherded by those who are used by God; it was the same with God’s use of Moses, in whom He found much that was suitable for use at the time, and which He used to do God’s work during that stage. In this stage, God uses a man whilst also taking advantage of the part of him that can be used by the Holy Spirit in order to work, and the Holy Spirit both directs him and simultaneously makes perfect the remaining, unusable part.

The work carried out by the one who is used by God is in order to cooperate with the work of Christ or the Holy Spirit. This man is raised up among man by God, he is there to lead all of God’s chosen ones, and he is also raised up by God in order to do the work of human cooperation. With someone such as this, who is able to do the work of human cooperation, more of God’s requirements toward man and the work that the Holy Spirit must do among man can be achieved through him. Another way of putting it is like this: God’s aim in using this man is so that all those who follow God can better understand God’s will, and can attain more of God’s requirements. Because people are incapable of directly understanding God’s words or God’s will, God has raised someone up who is used to carry out such work. This person who is used by God can also be described as a medium through which God guides people, as the “translator” who communicates between God and man. Thus, such a man is unlike any of those who work in God’s household or who are His apostles. Like them, he can be said to be someone who serves God, yet in the essence of his work and the background of his use by God he differs greatly from the other workers and apostles. In terms of the essence of his work and the background of his use, the man who is used by God is raised up by Him, he is prepared by God for God’s work, and he cooperates in the work of God Himself. No person could ever do his work in his stead—this is human cooperation that is indispensable alongside the divine work. The work carried out by other workers or apostles, meanwhile, is but the conveyance and implementation of the many aspects of the arrangements for the churches during each period, or else the work of some simple provision of life in order to maintain the church life. These workers and apostles are not appointed by God, much less can they be called those who are used by the Holy Spirit. They are selected from among the churches and, after they have been trained and cultivated for a period of time, those who are fit are kept on, while those who are unfit are sent back to where they came from. Because these people are selected from among the churches, some show their true colors after becoming leaders, and some even do many bad things and end up being cast out. The man who is used by God, on the other hand, is someone who has been prepared by God, and who possesses a certain caliber, and has humanity. He has been prepared and made perfect in advance by the Holy Spirit, and is completely led by the Holy Spirit, and, particularly when it comes to his work, he is directed and commanded by the Holy Spirit—as a result of this there is no deviation on the path of leading God’s chosen ones, for God surely takes responsibility for His own work, and God does His own work at all times.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Concerning God’s Use of Man

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 172

The work in the stream of the Holy Spirit, whether it is God’s own work or the work of people being used, is the work of the Holy Spirit. The essence of God Himself is the Spirit, which can be called the Holy Spirit or the sevenfold intensified Spirit. All in all, They are the Spirit of God, though the Spirit of God has been called different names in different eras. Their essence is still one. Therefore, the work of God Himself is the work of the Holy Spirit, while the work of the incarnate God is nothing less than the Holy Spirit at work. The work of people who are used is also the work of the Holy Spirit. Yet the work of God is the complete expression of the Holy Spirit, which is absolutely true, whereas the work of people being used is mixed with many human things, and is not the direct expression of the Holy Spirit, let alone His complete expression. The work of the Holy Spirit is varied and not limited by any conditions. The work of the Holy Spirit varies in different people; it manifests different essences, and it differs by era, as well as by country. Of course, although the Holy Spirit works in many different ways and according to many principles, no matter how the work is done or on what kind of people, its essence is always different; all the work done on different people has its principles, and all of it can represent the essence of its objects. This is because the work of the Holy Spirit is quite specific in scope and quite measured. The work done in the incarnate flesh is not the same as the work conducted on people, and the work varies, too, according to the caliber of the person on whom it is conducted. Work done in the incarnate flesh is not done on people, and it is not the same work as that done on people. In brief, no matter how it is done, the work performed on different objects is never the same, and the principles by which He works differ in accordance with the states and natures of the different people on whom He works. The Holy Spirit works on different people based on their inherent essence and does not make demands on them that exceed that essence, nor does He do work on them that exceeds their inherent caliber. So, the work of the Holy Spirit on man allows people to see the essence of that work’s object. The inherent essence of man does not change; his inherent caliber is limited. The Holy Spirit uses people or works on them in accordance with the limitations of their caliber, that they may benefit from it. When the Holy Spirit works on people being used, those people’s talents and inherent caliber are unleashed, not withheld. Their inherent caliber is exerted in service of the work. It may be said that He uses the parts of men that can be used in His work, in order to achieve results in that work. By contrast, work done in the incarnate flesh expresses the work of the Spirit directly and is unadulterated by the human mind and thoughts; neither man’s gifts, nor man’s experience, nor man’s innate condition can reach it. All the myriad work of the Holy Spirit is meant to benefit and edify man. However, some people can be perfected while others do not possess the conditions for perfection, which means they cannot be perfected and can hardly be saved, and though they may have had the work of the Holy Spirit, they are ultimately cast out. This is to say that though the work of the Holy Spirit is to edify people, one cannot say that all those who have had the Holy Spirit’s work will be perfected completely, because the path many people follow in their pursuit is not the path to being perfected. They have only the unilateral work of the Holy Spirit, not subjective human cooperation nor correct human pursuit. Thus, the work of the Holy Spirit on these people comes to serve those who are being perfected. The work of the Holy Spirit cannot be seen directly by people, nor can it be touched directly by people themselves. It can only be expressed by those with the gift of work, which means that the work of the Holy Spirit is provided to followers through the expressions people make.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Work

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 173

The work of the Holy Spirit is accomplished and completed through many types of people and many different conditions. Although the work of God incarnate can represent the work of an entire era, and can represent people’s entry in an entire era, work on the details of people’s entry still needs to be done by men who are used by the Holy Spirit, not by God incarnate. So, God’s work, or God’s own ministry, is the work of God’s incarnate flesh, which man cannot do in His stead. The work of the Holy Spirit is completed through many different types of people; no single person can achieve it entirely, and no single person can express it completely. Those who lead the churches also cannot represent the work of the Holy Spirit completely; they can only do some leading work. The work of the Holy Spirit can thus be divided into three parts: God’s own work, the work of people who are used, and the work on all those in the stream of the Holy Spirit. God’s own work is to lead the entire era; the work of those who are used is, by being sent or receiving commissions after God has done His own work, to lead all God’s followers, and these are the ones who cooperate with God’s work; the work done by the Holy Spirit on those in the stream is to maintain all His own work, that is, to maintain His entire management and His testimony, while at once perfecting those who can be perfected. Together, these three parts are the complete work of the Holy Spirit, but without the work of God Himself, the management work would stagnate in its entirety. The work of God Himself involves the work of all of mankind, and it also represents the work of the entire era, which means that God’s own work represents every dynamic and trend of the work of the Holy Spirit, whereas the work of the apostles comes after God’s own work and follows from it, and it does not lead the era, nor does it represent trends of the Holy Spirit’s work in a whole era. They only do the work man ought to do, which has nothing at all to do with the management work. The work God does Himself is a project within the management work. Man’s work is only the duty that people who are used fulfill, and it is unrelated to the management work. Despite the fact that they are both the work of the Holy Spirit, due to differences in identities and representations of the work, there are clear and essential differences between God’s own work and the work of man. Moreover, the extent of the work done by the Holy Spirit varies on objects with different identities. These are the principles and scope of the work of the Holy Spirit.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Work

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 174

The work of man signifies his experience and his humanity. What man provides and the work he does represent him. Man’s insight, man’s reasoning, man’s logic, and his rich imagination are all included in his work. Man’s experience is particularly able to signify his work, and a person’s experiences become the components of his work. Man’s work can express his experience. When some people experience negatively, most of the language of their fellowship will consist of negative elements. If their experience for a period of time is positive and they are especially possessed of a path in the positive aspect, their fellowship is very encouraging, and people can obtain positive provisions from them. If a worker becomes negative for a period of time, his fellowship will always carry negative elements. This kind of fellowship is depressing, and others will unconsciously become depressed after his fellowship. The state of followers changes depending on that of the leader. Whatever a worker is like inside, that is what he expresses, and the work of the Holy Spirit often changes with man’s state. He works according to people’s experience and does not force them, but makes demands of people according to the normal course of their experience. This is to say that man’s fellowship differs from the word of God. What people fellowship conveys their individual insights and experience, expressing their insights and experience on the basis of God’s work. Their responsibility is to find out, after God works or speaks, what of it they ought to practice or enter into, and then to deliver it to followers. Therefore, man’s work represents his entry and practice. Of course, such work is mixed with human lessons and experience or some human thoughts. However the Holy Spirit works, whether on man or in God incarnate, the workers always express what they are. Though it is the Holy Spirit who works, the work is founded on what man inherently is, because the Holy Spirit does not work without foundation. In other words, the work does not come from nothing, but is always done in accord with actual circumstances and real conditions. Only in this way can man’s disposition be transformed and his old notions and old thoughts be changed. What man expresses is what he sees, experiences, and can imagine, and it is attainable by man’s thinking, even if it is doctrine or notions. Man’s work cannot exceed the scope of man’s experience, nor what man sees, nor what man can imagine or conceive, regardless of the size of that work. All God expresses is what He Himself is, and this is unattainable by man—that is, beyond the reach of man’s thinking. He expresses His work of leading all mankind, and this is unrelated to the details of human experience, but is concerned instead with His own management. What man expresses is his experience, while what God expresses is His being, which is His inherent disposition, beyond the reach of man. Man’s experience is his insight and knowledge acquired on the basis of God’s expression of His being. Such insight and knowledge are called man’s being, and the basis of their expression is man’s inherent disposition and caliber—this is why they are also called man’s being. Man is able to fellowship what he experiences and sees. No one can fellowship that which they have not experienced, have not seen, or their thinking cannot reach, those being things they do not have inside of them. If what man expresses is not from his experience, it is then his imagination or doctrine. Simply put, there is no reality in his words. Were you never to come into contact with the things of society, you would not be able to fellowship clearly the complex relationships of society. If you had no family, were others to talk about family issues, you would not understand most of what they said. So, what man fellowships and the work he does represent his inner being. If someone fellowshiped his understanding of chastisement and judgment, but you had no experience of it, you would dare not deny his knowledge, much less dare to be one hundred percent confident in it. This is because their fellowship is something that you have never experienced, something you have never known, and your mind cannot imagine it. From their knowledge, all you can take is a path to undergo chastisement and judgment in the future. But this path can only be one of doctrinal knowledge; it cannot take the place of your own understanding, much less your experience. Perhaps you think what they say is quite correct, but in your own experience, you find it impracticable in many ways. Perhaps you feel some of what you hear is completely impracticable; you harbor notions about it at the time, and although you accept it, you only do so reluctantly. But in your own experience, the knowledge from which you derived notions becomes your way of practice, and the more you practice, the more you understand the true value and meaning of the words you heard. After having had your own experience, you can then talk about the knowledge you should have of what you experienced. In addition, you can also distinguish between those whose knowledge is real and practical and those whose knowledge is based on doctrine and worthless. So, whether the knowledge you profess accords with the truth largely depends on whether you have practical experience of it. Where there is truth in your experience, your knowledge will be practical and valuable. Through your experience, you can also gain discernment and insight, deepen your knowledge, and increase your wisdom and common sense about how you should conduct yourself. The knowledge expressed by people who do not possess the truth is doctrine, no matter how lofty it may be. This type of person may well be very intelligent when it comes to matters of the flesh but cannot make distinctions when it comes to spiritual matters. This is because such people have no experience at all of spiritual affairs. These are people who are not enlightened in spiritual affairs and do not understand spiritual matters. Whatever sort of knowledge you express, as long as it is your being, then it is your personal experience, your real knowledge. What people who speak only of doctrine—those being people who possess neither the truth nor reality—discuss can also be called their being, because they have arrived at their doctrine only through deep contemplation and it is the result of their deep rumination. Yet it is only doctrine, nothing more than imagination!

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Work

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 175

The experiences of all types of people represent the things within them. Anyone without any spiritual experience cannot speak of knowledge of the truth, nor of correct knowledge about various spiritual things. What man expresses is what he is inside—this is certain. If one wishes to have knowledge of spiritual things and knowledge of the truth, one must have real experience. If you cannot speak clearly about common sense in human life, how much less will you be able to talk about spiritual things? Those who can lead churches, supply people with life, and be apostles to the people must have actual experience; they must have a correct understanding of spiritual things and a correct appreciation and experience of the truth. Only such people are qualified to be workers or apostles who lead the churches. Otherwise, they can only follow as the least and cannot lead, much less be apostles who are able to supply people with life. This is because the function of apostles is not to rush about or to fight; it is to do the work of ministering life and leading others in transforming their dispositions. Those who perform this function are commissioned to shoulder a heavy responsibility, one that not just anyone can shoulder. This kind of work can only be undertaken by those with life being, that is, those who have experience of the truth. It cannot be undertaken by merely anyone who can renounce, who can rush about, or who is willing to expend themselves; people who have no experience of the truth, who have not been pruned or judged, are unable to do this type of work. People with no experience, who are people without reality, are unable to see reality clearly because they themselves are without this kind of being. So, this type of person is not only unable to do leadership work, but, if they remain without the truth for a long while, they are to be cast out. The insight you express can stand as proof of the hardships you have experienced in life, the things for which you are chastised, and the issues for which you have been judged. This is also true of trials: Where one is refined, where one is weak—these are the areas in which one has experience, in which one has a path. For example, if someone suffers frustrations in marriage, they will often fellowship, “Thank God, praise God, I must satisfy God’s heart’s desire and offer up my entire life, and I must place my marriage entirely in God’s hands. I am willing to pledge my whole life to God.” All the things within man can demonstrate what he is through fellowship. The pace of a person’s speech, whether they speak loudly or quietly—such matters are not matters of experience and cannot represent what they have and are. These things can only tell whether a person’s character is good or bad, or whether their nature is good or bad, but they cannot be equated with whether someone has experience. The ability to express oneself when speaking, or the skill or speed of speech, is just a matter of practice and cannot replace one’s experience. When you talk about your individual experiences, you fellowship that which you find important and all the things within you. My speech represents My being, but what I say is beyond the reach of man. What I say is not that which man experiences, and it is not something that man can see; it is also not something that man can touch, but is what I am. Some people acknowledge only that what I fellowship is what I have experienced, but they do not recognize that it is the direct expression of the Spirit. Of course, what I say is what I have experienced. It is I who have done the management work for six thousand years. I have experienced everything from the beginning of the creation of mankind until now; how would I be unable to discuss that? When it comes to man’s nature, I have seen clearly; I observed it long ago. How would I be unable to talk clearly about it? Since I have seen the substance of man clearly, I am qualified to chastise man and judge him, because all of man came from Me but has been corrupted by Satan. Of course, I am also qualified to assess the work I have done. Although this work is not done by My flesh, it is the direct expression of the Spirit, and this is what I have and what I am. Therefore, I am qualified to express it and to do the work I ought to do. What people say is what they have experienced. It is what they have seen, what their minds can reach, and what their senses can detect. That is what they can fellowship. The words spoken by God’s incarnate flesh are the direct expression of the Spirit and they express the work that has been done by the Spirit, which the flesh has not experienced or seen, yet He still expresses His being, for the essence of the flesh is the Spirit, and He expresses the work of the Spirit. It is work already done by the Spirit, though it is beyond the reach of the flesh. After incarnation, through the expression of the flesh, He enables people to know God’s being and allows people to see God’s disposition and the work that He has done. The work of man gives people greater clarity about what they should enter into and what they should understand; it involves leading people toward understanding and experiencing the truth. Man’s work is to sustain people; God’s work is to open up new paths and new eras for mankind, and to reveal to people that which is not known by mortals, enabling them to know His disposition. God’s work is to lead all of mankind.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Work

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 176

All the work of the Holy Spirit is performed to benefit people. It is all about edifying people; there is no work that does not benefit people. No matter whether the truth is deep or shallow, and no matter the caliber of those who accept the truth, whatever the Holy Spirit does, it benefits people. But the work of the Holy Spirit cannot be done directly; it must be expressed through the people who cooperate with Him. Only thus can the results of the work of the Holy Spirit be obtained. Of course, when the Holy Spirit works directly, it is not adulterated at all; but when the Holy Spirit works through man, it becomes very tainted and is not the original work of the Holy Spirit. This being so, the truth changes to differing degrees. Followers do not receive the original intention of the Holy Spirit but a combination of the work of the Holy Spirit and the experience and knowledge of man. The part of what followers receive that is the work of the Holy Spirit is correct, whereas the experience and the knowledge of man they receive vary because the workers are different. Workers with the enlightenment and guidance of the Holy Spirit will go on to have experiences based on this enlightenment and guidance. Within these experiences are combined man’s mind and experience, as well as the being of humanity, and afterward, they gain the knowledge or insight they should have. This is man’s way of practice after experiencing the truth. This way of practice is not always the same, because people experience differently and the things people experience are different. In this way, the same enlightenment of the Holy Spirit results in different knowledge and practice, because those who receive the enlightenment are different. Some people make minor mistakes during practice while some make major mistakes, and some make nothing but mistakes. This is because people differ in their ability to understand and also because their inherent calibers differ. Some people have one sort of understanding after hearing a message, and some people have another after hearing a truth. Some people deviate slightly, while some do not understand the real meaning of the truth at all. Therefore, one’s understanding dictates how one will lead others; this is exactly true, because one’s work is simply an expression of one’s being. People led by those who have a correct understanding of the truth will also have a correct understanding of the truth. Even if there are people with errors in their understanding, there are very few of them, and not everyone will have errors. If one has errors in his understanding of the truth, those who follow him will undoubtedly also be erroneous, and these people will be erroneous in every sense of the word. The degree to which followers understand the truth largely depends on the workers. Of course, the truth from God is correct and without error, and it is absolutely certain. The workers, however, are not completely correct and cannot be said to be completely reliable. If workers have a very practical way to put the truth into practice, then followers will also have a way to practice. If workers do not have a way to practice the truth but have only doctrine, then followers will have no reality. The caliber and nature of followers are determined by birth and are not associated with workers, but the extent to which followers understand the truth and know God depends on the workers (this is only so for some people). Whatever a worker is like, so will the followers he leads be. What a worker expresses is his own being, without reservation. The demands he makes of those who follow him are what he himself is willing or able to achieve. Most workers use what they do themselves as a basis to make demands of their followers, despite there being much their followers cannot achieve at all—and that which one cannot achieve becomes an obstacle to one’s entry.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Work

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 177

There is far less deviation in the work of those who have undergone pruning, being dealt with, judgment and chastisement, and the expression of their work is much more accurate. Those who rely on their naturalness to work make quite major mistakes. The work of unperfected people expresses too much of their own naturalness, which poses a major obstacle to the work of the Holy Spirit. However good a person’s caliber, they must also undergo pruning, being dealt with, and judgment before they can do the work of God’s commission. If they have not undergone such judgment, their work, no matter how well done, cannot accord with the principles of the truth and is always a product of their own naturalness and human goodness. The work of those who have undergone pruning, being dealt with, and judgment is much more accurate than the work of those who have not been pruned, dealt with, and judged. Those who have not undergone judgment express nothing but human flesh and thoughts, mingled with much human intelligence and innate talent. This is not man’s accurate expression of God’s work. Those who follow such people are brought before them by their innate caliber. Because they express too much of the insight and experience of man, which are almost disconnected from God’s original intention and deviate too far from it, the work of this type of person cannot bring people before God, but brings them rather before man. So, those who have not undergone judgment and chastisement are unqualified to carry out the work of God’s commission. The work of a qualified worker can bring people to the right way and grant them greater entry into the truth. His work can bring people before God. In addition, the work he does can vary from individual to individual and is not bound by rules, allowing people liberation and freedom, and the capacity gradually to grow in life and to have a more profound entry into the truth. The work of an unqualified worker falls far short. His work is foolish. He can only bring people into rules, and what he demands of people does not vary from individual to individual; he does not work according to people’s actual needs. In this type of work, there are too many rules and too many doctrines, and it cannot bring people into reality, nor into normal practice of growth in life. It can only enable people to adhere to a few worthless rules. Such guidance can only lead people astray. He leads you to become like him; he can bring you into what he has and is. For followers to discern whether leaders are qualified, the key is to look at the path on which they lead and the results of their work, and to see whether followers receive principles in accordance with the truth, and whether they receive ways of practice suitable for their transformation. You should distinguish between the different work of different types of people; you should not be a foolish follower. This bears on the matter of people’s entry. If you are unable to distinguish which person’s leadership has a path and which does not, you will easily be deceived. All of this has a direct bearing on your own life. There is too much naturalness in the work of unperfected people; it is mixed with too much of human will. Their being is naturalness—what they are born with. It is not life after having been dealt with or reality after having been transformed. How can such a person support those who are pursuing life? The life that man has originally is his innate intelligence or talent. This kind of intelligence or talent is quite far from God’s exact demands for man. If a man has not been perfected and his corrupt disposition has not been pruned and dealt with, there will be a wide gap between what he expresses and the truth; what he expresses will be mixed with vague things, such as his imagination and one-sided experience. Moreover, regardless of how he works, people feel there is no overall goal and no truth suitable for the entry of all people. Most of what is demanded of people is beyond their ability, as if they were ducks being made to sit on perches. This is the work of human will. Man’s corrupt disposition, his thoughts, and his notions pervade all parts of his body. Man is not born with the instinct to practice the truth, nor does he have the instinct to understand the truth directly. Add to that man’s corrupt disposition—when this kind of natural person works, does it not cause interruptions? But a man who has been perfected has experience of the truth that people should understand, and knowledge of their corrupt dispositions, so that the vague and unreal things in his work gradually diminish, the human adulterations become fewer, and his work and service come ever closer to the standards required by God. Thus, his work has entered the reality of the truth and it has also become realistic. The thoughts in man’s mind in particular block the work of the Holy Spirit. Man has a rich imagination and reasonable logic, and he has had long experience handling affairs. If these aspects of man do not undergo pruning and correction, they are all obstacles to work. Therefore, man’s work cannot achieve the greatest degree of accuracy, especially the work of unperfected people.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Work

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 178

The work of man stays within a range and is limited. One person can only do work of a certain phase and cannot do the work of the entire era—otherwise, he would lead people into the midst of rules. The work of man can only apply to a particular time or phase. This is because man’s experience has its scope. One cannot compare the work of man with the work of God. Man’s ways of practice and his knowledge of the truth are all applicable to a particular scope. You cannot say that the path man treads is completely the will of the Holy Spirit, because man can only be enlightened by the Holy Spirit, and cannot be completely filled with the Holy Spirit. The things man can experience are all within the scope of normal humanity and cannot exceed the range of thoughts in the normal human mind. All those who can live out the reality of the truth experience within this range. When they experience the truth, it is always an experience of normal human life enlightened by the Holy Spirit; it is not a way of experiencing that deviates from normal human life. They experience the truth enlightened by the Holy Spirit on the foundation of living their human lives. Moreover, this truth varies from person to person, and its depth is related to the state of the person. One can only say that the path they walk is the normal human life of someone pursuing the truth, and it may be called the path walked by a normal person enlightened by the Holy Spirit. One cannot say that the path they walk is the path the Holy Spirit takes. In normal human experience, because people who pursue are not the same, the work of the Holy Spirit is also not the same. In addition, because the environments people experience and the ranges of their experience are not the same, and because of the admixture of their mind and thoughts, their experience is mixed to different degrees. Each person understands a truth according to their different, individual conditions. Their understanding of the real meaning of the truth is not complete and is only one or several aspects of it. The scope of the truth man experiences differs from person to person in line with each person’s conditions. In this way, the knowledge of the same truth, as expressed by different people, is not the same. This is to say, man’s experience always has limitations and cannot completely represent the will of the Holy Spirit, nor can the work of man be perceived as the work of God, even if what is expressed by man corresponds very closely to God’s will, and even if the experience of man is very close to the perfecting work that the Holy Spirit performs. Man can only be God’s servant, doing the work that God entrusts to him. Man can only express knowledge enlightened by the Holy Spirit and truths obtained from his personal experiences. Man is unqualified and does not meet the conditions to be the outlet of the Holy Spirit. He is not entitled to say that his work is the work of God. Man has man’s working principles, and all men have different experiences and possess varying conditions. Man’s work includes all his experiences under the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. These experiences can only represent man’s being and do not represent the being of God or the will of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the path man walks cannot be said to be the path walked by the Holy Spirit, because the work of man cannot represent the work of God, and man’s work and man’s experience are not the complete will of the Holy Spirit. Man’s work is susceptible to falling into rules, and the method of his work is easily confined to a limited scope, and is unable to lead people to a free way. Most followers live within a limited scope, and their way of experiencing is also limited in its scope. Man’s experience is always limited; the method of his work is also limited to a few types and cannot be compared with the work of the Holy Spirit or the work of God Himself. This is because man’s experience, in the end, is limited. However God does His work, it is unbound by rules; however it is done, it is not limited to a single method. There are no rules whatsoever to God’s work—all His work is released and free. No matter how much time man spends following Him, he cannot distill any laws that govern God’s ways of working. Although His work is principled, it is always done in new ways and always has new developments, and it is beyond man’s reach. In a single period, God may have several different types of work and different ways of leading people, making it so people always have new entries and changes. You cannot discern the laws of His work because He is always working in new ways, and only thus do followers of God not become bound by rules. The work of God Himself always avoids people’s notions and counters them. Only those who follow and pursue Him with a true heart can have their dispositions transformed and be able to live freely, not subjected to any rules or restrained by any religious notions. The work of man makes demands of people based on his own experience and what he himself can achieve. The standard of these requirements is limited within a certain scope, and the methods of practice are also very limited. Followers thus unconsciously live within this limited scope; as time passes, these things become rules and rituals. If the work of one period is led by someone who has not undergone God’s personal perfecting and not received judgment, his followers will all become religionists and experts in resisting God. Therefore, if someone is a qualified leader, that person must have undergone judgment and accepted being perfected. Those who have not undergone judgment, even though they may have the work of the Holy Spirit, express only vague and unreal things. With time, they will lead people into vague and supernatural rules. The work that God performs does not accord with the flesh of man. It does not accord with man’s thoughts, but counters man’s notions; it is not tainted with vague religious colorings. The results of God’s work cannot be achieved by someone who has not been perfected by Him; they are beyond the reach of man’s thinking.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Work

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 179

Work in the mind of man is too easy for man to achieve. Pastors and leaders in the religious world, for example, rely on their gifts and positions to do their work. People who follow them for a long time will be infected by their gifts and influenced by some of their being. They focus on people’s gifts, abilities and knowledge, and they pay attention to supernatural things and many profound, unrealistic doctrines (of course, these profound doctrines are unattainable). They do not focus on changes in people’s dispositions, but rather on training people to preach and work, improving people’s knowledge and their abundant religious doctrines. They do not focus on how much people’s disposition is changed nor on how much people understand of the truth. They do not concern themselves with people’s essence, and much less do they try to know people’s normal and abnormal states. They do not counter people’s notions, nor do they reveal their notions, much less do they prune people for their deficiencies or corruptions. Most who follow them serve with their gifts, and all they release is religious notions and theological theories, which are out of touch with reality and completely unable to confer life onto people. In fact, the essence of their work is nurturing talent, nurturing a person with nothing into a talented seminary graduate who later goes on to work and lead. Can you discern any laws in God’s six thousand years of work? There are many rules and restrictions in the work that man does, and the human brain is too dogmatic. What man expresses, therefore, is knowledge and realizations that are within the scope of his experience. Man is unable to express anything apart from this. Man’s experiences or knowledge do not arise from his innate gifts or his instinct; they arise because of God’s guidance and direct shepherding. Man has only the faculty to accept this shepherding and no faculty that can express directly what divinity is. Man is unable to be the source; he can only be a vessel that accepts water from the source. This is the human instinct, the faculty that one should have as a human being. If a person loses the faculty that accepts God’s word and loses the human instinct, that person also loses what is most precious, and loses the duty of created man. If a person has no knowledge or experience of God’s word or His work, that person loses his duty, the duty he should perform as a created being, and loses the dignity of a created being. It is God’s instinct to express what divinity is, whether it is expressed in the flesh or directly by the Spirit; this is God’s ministry. Man expresses his own experiences or knowledge (that is, expresses what he is) during God’s work or afterward; this is man’s instinct and man’s duty, and it is what man should achieve. Although man’s expression falls far short of what God expresses, and although man’s expression is bound by many rules, man must fulfill the duty he should fulfill and do what he must do. Man should do everything humanly possible to fulfill his duty, and he should not have even the slightest reservation.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Work

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 180

You must know how to differentiate God’s work from the work of man. What can you see in the work of man? There are many elements of man’s experience in his work; what man expresses is what he is. God’s own work also expresses what He is, but His being is different from man’s. Man’s being represents man’s experience and life (what man experiences or encounters in his life, or the philosophies for living he has), and people living in different environments express different beings. Whether you have experiences of society and how you actually live in your family and experience within it can be seen in what you express, whereas you cannot see in the work of God incarnate whether He has social experiences. He is well aware of the substance of man and can reveal all kinds of practices pertaining to all kinds of people. He is even better at revealing the corrupt dispositions and the rebellious behavior of humans. He does not live among worldly people, but He is aware of the nature of mortals and all the corruptions of worldly people. This is His being. Though He does not deal with the world, He knows the rules of dealing with the world, because He understands human nature fully. He knows about the Spirit’s work that man’s eyes cannot see and man’s ears cannot hear, both of today and of the past. This includes wisdom that is not a philosophy for living and wonders that are hard for people to fathom. This is His being, open to people and also hidden from people. What He expresses is not the being of an extraordinary person, but the inherent attributes and being of the Spirit. He does not travel the world but knows everything of it. He contacts the “anthropoids” who have no knowledge or insight, but He expresses words that are higher than knowledge and above great men. He lives within a group of obtuse and numb people who are without humanity and who do not understand the conventions and life of humanity, but He can ask mankind to live out normal humanity, at the same time revealing the base and low humanity of mankind. All this is His being, higher than the being of any flesh-and-blood person. For Him, it is unnecessary to experience a complicated, cumbersome, and sordid social life to do the work He needs to do and reveal the substance of corrupt mankind thoroughly. A sordid social life does not edify His flesh. His work and words only reveal man’s disobedience and do not provide man with experience and lessons for dealing with the world. He does not need to investigate society or man’s family when He supplies man with life. Exposing and judging man is not an expression of the experiences of His flesh; it is His revelation of man’s unrighteousness after having known man’s disobedience for a long time and abhorring mankind’s corruption. The work He does is all meant to reveal His disposition to man and to express His being. Only He can do this work; it is not something a flesh-and-blood person could achieve.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Work

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 181

The work God does is not representative of the experience of His flesh; the work man does is representative of his experience. Everyone talks about their personal experience. God can express the truth directly, while man can only express the experience that corresponds to his having experienced the truth. God’s work has no rules and is not subject to time or geographical constraints. He can express what He is at anytime, anywhere. He works as He pleases. Man’s work has conditions and context; without them, he would be unable to work and unable to express his knowledge of God or his experience of the truth. To tell whether something is God’s own work or man’s work, you must simply compare the differences between the two. If there is no work done by God Himself and there is only the work of man, you will simply know that man’s teachings are high, beyond the capacity of anyone else; their tones of speaking, their principles in handling things, and their experienced and steady manner in working are beyond the reach of others. You all admire these people of good caliber and lofty knowledge, but you cannot see from God’s work and words how high His humanity is. Instead, He is ordinary, and, when working, He is normal and real yet also immeasurable by mortals, which therefore makes people feel a kind of reverence for Him. Perhaps a person’s experience in his work is particularly advanced, or his imagination and reasoning are particularly advanced, and his humanity is particularly good; such attributes can only gain people’s admiration, but not arouse their awe and fear. People all admire those who can work well, who have particularly deep experience, and who can practice the truth, but such people can never elicit awe, only admiration and envy. But people who have experienced God’s work do not admire God; instead, they feel His work is beyond human reach and is unfathomable to man, that it is fresh and wonderful. When people experience God’s work, their first knowledge of Him is that He is unfathomable, wise, and wonderful, and they unconsciously revere Him and feel the mystery of the work He does, which is beyond the ken of man’s mind. People want only to be able to meet His requirements, to satisfy His desires; they do not wish to exceed Him, because the work He does goes beyond man’s thinking and imagination and could not be done by man in His stead. Even man himself does not know his own inadequacies, yet God has forged a new path and has come to bring man into a newer and more beautiful world, and so mankind has made new progress and has had a new start. What people feel for God is not admiration, or rather, is not only admiration. Their deepest experience is awe and love; their feeling is that God is indeed wonderful. He does work that man is unable to do and says things that man is unable to say. People who have experienced God’s work always have an indescribable feeling. People of deep enough experience can understand the love of God; they can feel His loveliness, that His work is so wise, so wonderful, and thereby is infinite power generated among them. It is not fear or occasional love and respect, but a deep sense of God’s compassion for man and tolerance of him. However, people who have experienced His chastisement and judgment sense His majesty and that He tolerates no offense. Even people who have experienced much of His work are unable to fathom Him; all who truly revere Him know that His work is not in line with people’s notions but always goes against their notions. He does not need people to admire Him wholly or present the appearance of submission to Him; rather, they should achieve true reverence and true submission. In so much of His work, anyone with true experience feels reverence for Him, which is higher than admiration. People have seen His disposition due to His work of chastisement and judgment, and they therefore revere Him in their hearts. God is meant to be revered and obeyed, because His being and His disposition are not the same as those of a created being and are above those of a created being. God is self-existent and everlasting, He is a non-created being, and only God is worthy of reverence and obedience; man is not qualified for this. So, all who have experienced His work and truly known Him feel reverence toward Him. However, those who do not let go of their notions about Him—those who simply do not regard Him as God—have no reverence toward Him, and though they follow Him, they are not conquered; they are disobedient people by nature. What He means to achieve by working thus is for all created beings to have hearts of reverence for the Creator, worship Him, and submit to His dominion unconditionally. This is the final result that all His work is meant to achieve. If people who have experienced such work do not revere God, even slightly, and if their past disobedience does not change at all, then they are sure to be cast out. If a person’s attitude toward God is only to admire Him or to show Him respect from a distance, and not to love Him in the slightest, then this is the result at which a person without a heart of love for God has arrived, and that person lacks the conditions to be perfected. If so much work is unable to obtain a person’s true love, then that person has not gained God and does not genuinely pursue the truth. A person who does not love God does not love the truth and thus cannot gain God, much less receive God’s approval. Such people, however they experience the work of the Holy Spirit, and however they experience judgment, are unable to revere God. These are people whose nature is unchangeable and who have extremely wicked dispositions. All who do not revere God are to be cast out, to be objects of punishment, and to be punished just like those who do evil, to suffer even more than those who have done unrighteous things.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God’s Work and Man’s Work

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 182

After all, God’s work is different from man’s work and, moreover, how could His expressions be the same as theirs? God has His own particular disposition, while man has duties they ought to fulfill. God’s disposition is expressed in His work, while man’s duty is embodied in the experiences of man and expressed in the pursuits of man. It therefore becomes evident through the work that is done whether something is God’s expression or man’s expression. It does not need to be explained by God Himself, nor does it require man to strive to bear witness; moreover, it does not need God Himself to suppress any person. All of this comes as a natural revelation; it is neither forced nor something that man can interfere with. Man’s duty can be known through their experiences, and it does not require people to do any extra experiential work. All of man’s essence can be revealed as they perform their duty, whereas God can express His inherent disposition while performing His work. If it is man’s work then it cannot be covered up. If it is God’s work, then God’s disposition is even more impossible to be concealed by anyone, much less be controlled by man. No man can be said to be God, nor can their work and words be looked upon as holy or regarded as immutable. God can be said to be human because He clothed Himself in flesh, but His work cannot be considered to be man’s work or man’s duty. Moreover, God’s utterances and Paul’s letters cannot be equated, nor can God’s judgment and chastisement and man’s words of instruction be spoken of on equal terms. There are, therefore, principles that distinguish God’s work from man’s work. These are differentiated according to their essences, not by the scope of the work or its temporary efficiency. On this subject, most people make mistakes of principle. This is because man looks at the exterior, which they can achieve, while God looks at the essence, which cannot be observed with mankind’s physical eyes. If you regard God’s words and work as the duties of an average man, and view man’s large-scale work as the work of God clothed in the flesh rather than the duty man fulfills, then are you not mistaken in principle? Man’s letters and biographies can be easily written, but only upon the foundation of the work of the Holy Spirit. However, God’s utterances and work cannot be easily accomplished by man or achieved by human wisdom and thinking, nor can people explain them thoroughly after exploring them. If these matters of principle do not evoke any reaction in you, then your faith is evidently not very true or refined. It can only be said that your faith is full of vagueness, and is both confused and unprincipled. Without even understanding the most basic essential issues of God and man, is this sort of faith not one that completely lacks perceptiveness?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Where Do You Stand on the Thirteen Epistles?

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 183

Jesus was on earth for thirty-three and a half years, He came to do the work of crucifixion, and through the crucifixion God gained one part of His glory. When God came in the flesh, He was able to be humble and hidden, and could endure tremendous suffering. Although He was God Himself, He still endured every humiliation and every revilement, and He endured great pain in being nailed to the cross so as to complete the work of redemption. After this stage of work was concluded, although people saw that God had gained great glory, this was not the entirety of His glory; it was only one part of His glory, which He had gained from Jesus. Although Jesus was able to endure every hardship, to be humble and hidden, to be crucified for God, God only gained one part of His glory, and His glory was gained in Israel. God still has another part of glory: coming to earth to practically work and make perfect a group of people. During Jesus’ stage of work, He did some supernatural things, but that stage of work was by no means only in order to perform signs and wonders. It was primarily to show that Jesus could suffer, and be crucified for God, that Jesus was able to suffer tremendous pain because He loved God and that, although God abandoned Him, He was still willing to sacrifice His life for God’s will. After God had completed His work in Israel and Jesus was nailed to the cross, God gained glory, and He had borne testimony before Satan. You neither know nor have seen how God has become flesh in China, so how can you see that God has gained glory? When God does much work of conquest in you, and you stand firm, then this stage of God’s work is successful, and this is part of God’s glory. You see only this, and you have yet to be made perfect by God, have yet to give your heart entirely to God. You have yet to entirely see this glory; you only see that God has already conquered your heart, that you can never leave Him, and will follow God to the very end and your heart will not change, and that this is the glory of God. In what do you see God’s glory? In the effects of His work in people. People see that God is so lovely, they have God in their hearts, and are unwilling to leave Him, and this is God’s glory. When the strength of the brothers and sisters of the churches arises, and they can love God from their hearts, see the supreme might of the work done by God, the incomparable might of His words, when they see that His words carry authority and that He can embark upon His work in the ghost town of the Chinese mainland, when, though people are weak, their hearts bow down before God and they are willing to accept God’s words, and when, although they are weak and unworthy, they are able to see that God’s words are so lovable, and so worthy of their cherishment, then this is the glory of God. When the day comes on which people are made perfect by God, and are able to surrender before Him, and can completely obey God, and leave their prospects and fate in the hands of God, then the second part of God’s glory will have been entirely gained. Which is to say, when the work of the practical God has been entirely completed, His work in mainland China will come to an end. In other words, when those who were predestined and chosen by God have been made perfect, God will have gained glory. God said that He has brought the second part of His glory to the East, yet this is invisible to the naked eye. God has brought His work to the East: He has already come to the East, and this is God’s glory. Today, although His work has yet to be completed, because God has decided to work, it shall surely be accomplished. God has decided He shall complete this work in China, and He has resolved to make you complete. Thus, He gives you no way out—He has already conquered your hearts, and you have to go on whether you want to or not, and when you are gained by God, God obtains glory. Today, God has yet to obtain complete glory, because you have yet to be made perfect. Although your hearts have returned to God, there are still many weaknesses in your flesh, you are incapable of satisfying God, you are unable to be mindful of God’s will, and you yet possess many negative things that you must rid yourselves of and you must yet undergo many trials and refinements. Only in that way can your life dispositions change and you can be gained by God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. A Brief Talk About “The Millennial Kingdom Has Arrived”

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 184

At the time, Jesus’ work was the work to redeem all mankind. The sins of all who believed in Him were forgiven; as long as you believed in Him, He would redeem you; if you believed in Him, you were no longer of sin, you were relieved of your sins. This is what it meant to be saved, and to be justified by faith. Yet in those who believed, there remained that which was rebellious and opposed God, and which still had to be slowly removed. Salvation did not mean man had been completely gained by Jesus, but that man was no longer of sin, that he had been forgiven his sins. Provided you believed, you would never more be of sin. At the time, Jesus did much work that was incomprehensible to His disciples and said much that people did not understand. This is because, at the time, He did not give any explanation. Thus, several years after He departed, Matthew created a genealogy for Jesus, and others also did much work that was of the will of man. Jesus did not come to perfect and gain man, but to do one stage of work: bringing forth the gospel of the kingdom of heaven and completing the work of the crucifixion. And so, once Jesus was crucified, His work came to a complete end. But in the current stage—the work of conquest—more words must be spoken, more work must be done, and there must be many processes. So too must the mysteries of the work of Jesus and Jehovah be revealed, so that all people may have understanding and clarity in their belief, for this is the work of the last days, and the last days are the end of God’s work, the time of the work’s conclusion. This stage of work will elucidate for you the law of Jehovah and the redemption of Jesus, and is principally so that you may understand the entire work of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, and appreciate all the significance and essence of this six-thousand-year management plan, and understand the purpose of all the work done by Jesus and the words He spoke, and even your blind credence in and adoration of the Bible. All this it will allow you to understand thoroughly. You will come to understand both the work done by Jesus, and the work of God today; you will understand and behold all of the truth, the life, and the way. In the stage of work done by Jesus, why did Jesus depart without doing the concluding work? Because the stage of Jesus’ work was not the work of conclusion. When He was nailed to the cross, His words also came to an end; after His crucifixion, His work completely finished. The current stage is different: Only after the words are spoken to the end and God’s entire work is concluded will His work have finished. During Jesus’ stage of work, there were many words that remained unsaid, or which were not fully articulated. Yet Jesus cared not what He did or did not say, for His ministry was not a ministry of words, and so after He was nailed to the cross, He departed. That stage of work was chiefly for the sake of the crucifixion, and is unlike the current stage. This current stage of work is principally for the sake of completion, of clearing up, and of bringing all work to a conclusion. If the words are not spoken to their very end, there will be no way of concluding this work, for in this stage of work all work is brought to an end and accomplished using words. At the time, Jesus did much work that was incomprehensible to man. He departed quietly, and today there are still many who do not understand His words, whose understanding is erroneous yet still they believe it to be correct, and do not know that they are wrong. The final stage will bring God’s work to a complete end and will provide its conclusion. All will come to understand and know of God’s management plan. The notions within man, his intentions, his erroneous and absurd understanding, his notions about the work of Jehovah and Jesus, his views about the Gentiles, and his other deviations and errors will be corrected. And man will understand all the right paths of life, and all the work done by God, and the entire truth. When that happens, this stage of work will come to an end. The work of Jehovah was the creation of the world, it was the beginning; this stage of work is the end of work, and it is the conclusion. At the start, God’s work was carried out among the chosen ones of Israel, and it was the dawn of a new epoch in the most holy of all places. The last stage of work is carried out in the most impure of all countries, to judge the world and bring the age to an end. In the first stage, God’s work was done in the brightest of all places, and the last stage is carried out in the darkest of all places, and this darkness will be driven out, the light brought forth, and all the people conquered. When the people of this most impure and darkest of all places have been conquered, and the entire population has acknowledged that there is a God, who is the true God, and every person has been utterly convinced, then this fact will be used to carry out the work of conquest throughout the entire universe. This stage of work is symbolic: Once the work of this age has been finished, the work of six thousand years of management will come to a complete end. Once those in the darkest of all places have been conquered, it goes without saying that it will also be so everywhere else. As such, only the work of conquest in China carries meaningful symbolism. China embodies all forces of darkness, and the people of China represent all those who are of the flesh, of Satan, and of flesh and blood. It is the Chinese people who have been most corrupted by the great red dragon, who have the strongest opposition to God, whose humanity is most base and impure, and so they are the archetype of all corrupt humanity. This is not to say that other countries have no problems at all; the notions of man are all the same, and although the people of these countries may be of good caliber, if they do not know God, then it must be that they oppose Him. Why did the Jews also oppose and defy God? Why did the Pharisees also oppose Him? Why did Judas betray Jesus? At the time, many of the disciples did not know Jesus. Why, after Jesus was crucified and rose again, did people still not believe in Him? Is man’s disobedience not all the same? It is merely that the people of China are made an example of, and when they are conquered they will become models and specimens, and will serve as references for others. Why have I always said that you are an adjunct to My management plan? It is in the people of China that corruption, impurity, unrighteousness, opposition, and rebelliousness are manifested most completely and revealed in all their varied forms. On the one hand, they are of poor caliber, and on the other, their lives and mindset are backward, and their habits, social environment, family of birth—all are poor and the most backward. Their status, too, is low. The work in this place is symbolic, and after this test work has been carried out in its entirety, God’s subsequent work will be much easier. If this step of work can be completed, then the subsequent work goes without saying. Once this step of work has been accomplished, great success will have been fully achieved, and the work of conquest throughout the entire universe will have come to a complete end.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Vision of God’s Work (2)

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 185

To work now on the descendants of Moab is to save those who have fallen into the greatest darkness. Although they were cursed, God is willing to gain glory from them, for they were at first all people whose hearts lacked God; only making those without God in their hearts obey and love Him is true conquest, and the fruit of such work is the most valuable and the most convincing. Only this is gaining glory—this is the glory that God wants to gain in the last days. Although these people are of low position, that they are now able to gain such great salvation is truly an elevation by God. This work is very meaningful, and it is through judgment that He gains these people. It is not His intention to punish these people, but to save them. If, during the last days, He were still doing the work of conquest in Israel, it would be worthless; even if it bore fruit, it would not have value or any great significance, and He would not be able to gain all glory. He is working on you, those who have fallen into the darkest of places, those who are the most backward. These people do not acknowledge that there is a God and have never known that there is a God. These creatures have been so corrupted by Satan that they have forgotten God. They have been blinded by Satan and do not know at all that there is a God in heaven. In your hearts, you all worship idols and worship Satan—are you not the lowliest, the most backward of people? You are the lowliest of the flesh, without any personal freedom, and you suffer hardships as well. You are also the people at the lowest level of this society, without even freedom of belief. Herein lies the significance of working on you. Working today on you, the descendants of Moab, is not meant to humiliate you, but to reveal the significance of the work. For you, it is a great elevation. If a person has reason and insight, they will say: “I am a descendant of Moab, truly unworthy of receiving today such great elevation by God, or such great blessings. In all I do and say, and according to my status and worth, I am not at all worthy of such great blessings from God. The Israelites have great love for God, and the grace they enjoy is bestowed on them by Him, but their status is much higher than ours. Abraham was very devoted to Jehovah, and Peter was very devoted to Jesus—their devotion was a hundred times greater than ours. Based on our actions, we are absolutely unworthy of enjoying God’s grace.” The service of these people in China simply cannot be brought before God. It is a complete shambles; that you now enjoy so much of God’s grace is purely God’s elevation! When have you sought God’s work? When have you sacrificed your life for God? When have you readily given up your family, your parents, and your children? None of you has paid a great price! Had the Holy Spirit not brought you out, how many of you would have been able to sacrifice everything? You have followed until today only under force and duress. Where is your devotion? Where is your obedience? Based on your actions, you should have been destroyed long ago—all of you swept clean. What qualifies you to enjoy such great blessings? You are not worthy in the least! Who among you has forged their own path? Who among you has found the true way themselves? You are all lazy, gluttonous, comfort-seeking wretches! Do you think you are great? What do you have to brag about? Even ignoring that you are the descendants of Moab, is your nature or your birthplace of the highest sort? Even ignoring that you are his descendants, are not all of you descendants of Moab, through and through? Can the truth of facts be changed? Does exposing your nature now misrepresent the truth of facts? Look at your servility, your lives, and your characters—do you not know that you are the lowliest of the low among mankind? What do you have to brag about? Look at your position in society. Are you not at its lowest level? Do you think I have misspoken? Abraham offered up Isaac—what have you offered up? Job offered up everything—what have you offered up? So many people have given their lives, laid down their heads, shed their blood in order to seek the true way. Have you paid that price? By comparison, you are not at all qualified to enjoy such great grace. Does it wrong you to say today that you are the descendants of Moab? Do not regard yourselves too highly. You have nothing to brag about. Such great salvation, such great grace is given to you freely. You have sacrificed nothing, yet you enjoy grace freely. Do you not feel ashamed? Is this true way something you sought out and found by yourselves? Was it not the Holy Spirit that compelled you to accept it? You have never had hearts of seeking, much less hearts that seek and long for the truth. You have just been sitting back and enjoying it; you have gained this truth without expending the least effort. What right do you have to complain? Do you think you are of the greatest worth? Compared to those who sacrificed their lives and spilled their blood, what do you have to complain about? Destroying you now would be right and natural! You have no option other than to obey and follow. You simply are not worthy! Most of those among you were called out, but had your environment not compelled you or had you not been called, you would have been entirely unwilling to come out. Who is willing to take on such renunciation? Who is willing to give up the pleasures of the flesh? You are all people who greedily revel in comfort and seek a luxurious life! You have gained such great blessings—what else do you have to say? What complaints do you have? You have been allowed to enjoy the greatest blessings and the greatest grace in heaven, and work that has never been done before on earth is today revealed to you. Is this not a blessing? You are chastised so today because you have resisted God and rebelled against Him. Because of this chastisement, you have seen God’s mercy and love, and more still you have seen His righteousness and holiness. Because of this chastisement and because of mankind’s filthiness, you have seen God’s great power, and you have seen His holiness and greatness. Is this not the rarest of truths? Is this not a life with meaning? The work that God does is full of meaning! Thus, the lower your position, the more it proves that you are elevated by God, and the more it proves the great value of His work on you today. It is simply a priceless treasure, which cannot be gotten anywhere else! Through the ages, no one has enjoyed such great salvation. The fact that your position is low shows how great God’s salvation is, and it shows that God is faithful to mankind—He saves, He does not destroy.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Significance of Saving the Descendants of Moab

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 186

When God came to the earth, He was not of the world, and He did not become flesh in order to enjoy the world. The place where working would reveal His disposition and be most meaningful is the place where He was born. Whether it is a holy or a filthy land, and no matter where He works, He is holy. Everything in the world was created by Him, though it has all been corrupted by Satan. However, all things still belong to Him; they are all in His hands. He comes to a filthy land and works there in order to reveal His holiness; He only does this for the sake of His work, which means He endures great humiliation to do such work in order to save the people of this filthy land. This is done so as to bear witness, for the sake of all of mankind. What such work shows people is God’s righteousness, and it is better able to display God’s supremacy. His greatness and uprightness are manifested in the salvation of a group of lowly people whom others scorn. Being born in a filthy land does not at all prove that He is lowly; it simply allows all of creation to see His greatness and His true love for mankind. The more He does so, the more it reveals His pure love, His flawless love for man. God is holy and righteous. Even though He was born in a filthy land, and even though He lives with those people who are full of filthiness, just as Jesus lived with sinners in the Age of Grace, is every bit of His work not done for the sake of all mankind’s survival? Is it all not so that mankind can gain great salvation? Two thousand years ago, He lived with sinners for a number of years. That was for the sake of redemption. Today, He is living with a group of filthy, lowly people. This is for the sake of salvation. Is all His work not for the sake of you humans? If not to save mankind, why would He have lived and suffered with sinners for so many years after being born in a manger? And if not to save mankind, why would He return to the flesh a second time, born in this land where demons congregate, and live with these people who have been deeply corrupted by Satan? Is God not faithful? What part of His work has not been for mankind? What part has not been for your destiny? God is holy—this is immutable! He is unpolluted by filth, though He has come to a filthy land; all of this can only mean that God’s love for mankind is extremely selfless and the suffering and humiliation He endures is extremely great! Do you not know how great the humiliation He suffers is, for all of you and for your destiny? Rather than saving great people or the sons of rich and powerful families, He makes a point of saving those who are lowly and looked down on. Is all of this not His holiness? Is all of this not His righteousness? For the sake of all mankind’s survival, He would rather be born in a filthy land and suffer every humiliation. God is very real—He does no false work. Is not every stage of work done in such a practical way? Though people all malign Him and say He sits at the table with sinners, though people all mock Him and say He lives with the sons of filth, that He lives with the lowliest of people, He still gives selflessly of Himself, and He is still thus rejected among mankind. Is the suffering He endures not greater than yours? Is the work He does not more than the price you have paid? You were born in a land of filth, yet you have gained God’s holiness. You were born in a land where demons congregate, yet you have received great protection. What choice do you have? What complaints do you have? Is the suffering He has endured not greater than the suffering you have endured? He has come to the earth and never enjoyed the delights of the human world. He detests such things. God did not come to the earth to have man treat Him to material things, nor did He come to enjoy the food, clothes, and ornaments of man. He pays no mind to these things. He came to earth to suffer for man, not to enjoy earthly fortune. He came to suffer, to work, and to complete His management plan. He did not select a nice place, to live in an embassy or a fancy hotel, nor does He have a number of servants to wait on Him. Based on what you have seen, do you not know if He came to work or for enjoyment? Do your eyes not see? How much has He given you? If He had been born in a comfortable place, would He be able to gain glory? Would He be able to work? Would His doing so have any significance? Would He be able to conquer mankind completely? Would He be able to rescue people from the land of filth? People ask, according to their notions: “Since God is holy, why was He born in this filthy place of ours? You hate and detest us filthy humans; You detest our resistance and our rebelliousness, so why do You live with us? You are a supreme God. You could have been born anywhere, so why did You have to be born in this filthy land? You chastise and judge us every day, and You know clearly that we are the descendants of Moab, so why do You still live among us? Why were You born into a family of the descendants of Moab? Why did You do that?” Such thoughts of yours are entirely lacking in reason! Only such work allows people to see His greatness, His humility and hiddenness. He is willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of His work, and He has endured all suffering for the sake of His work. He acts for the sake of mankind, and, more than that, to conquer Satan, that all creatures may submit under His dominion. Only this is meaningful, valuable work.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Significance of Saving the Descendants of Moab

Daily Words of God  Excerpt 187

At that time when Jesus worked in Judea, He did so openly, but now, I work and speak among you in secret. The unbelievers are completely unaware of it. My work among you is closed to those on the outside. These words, these chastisements and judgments, are known only to you and no others. All of this work is carried out in your midst and unveiled only to you; none among the unbelievers knows of this, for the time has not yet come. These people here are near to being made complete after enduring chastisements, but those on the outside know nothing of this. This work is much too hidden! To them, God become flesh is hidden, but to those in this stream, one can say that He is open. Although in God all is open, all is revealed, and all is set free, this is only true for those who believe in Him; as far as the rest, the unbelievers, are concerned, nothing is made known. The work that is currently being done among you and in China is strictly closed off, in order to keep them from knowing. Should they become aware of this work, then all they would do is condemn it and subject it to persecution. They would not believe in it. To work in the nation of the great red dragon, this most backward of places, is no easy task. If this work were to be put out into the open, it would be impossible to continue. This stage of work simply cannot be carried out in this place. If this work were to be carried out in the open, how could they allow it to go forward? Would this not put the work under even greater risk? If this work were not concealed, but rather carried out as in the time of Jesus, when He spectacularly healed the sick and cast out demons, then would it not have long ago been “seized upon” by the devils? Would they be able to tolerate the existence of God? If I were to now enter into the synagogues to preach and lecture man, then would I not have long ago been dashed to pieces? And if this had happened, how could My work have continued to be carried out? The reason that no signs and wonders are openly manifested at all is for the sake of concealment. So, to unbelievers, My work cannot be seen, known, or discovered. If this stage of work were to be done in the same manner as that of Jesus in the Age of Grace, it could not be so steady as it now is. So, to work secretly in this way is of benefit to you and to the work as a whole. When God’s work on earth comes to an end, that is, when this secret work concludes, then this stage of work will burst into the open. All will know that there are a group of overcomers in China; all will know that God become flesh is in China and that His work has come to an end. Only then will it dawn on man: Why is it that China has yet to show decline or collapse? It turns out that God is personally carrying out His work in China and has perfected a group of people into overcomers.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (2)