Item Ten: They Despise the Truth, Brazenly Flout Principles, and Ignore the Arrangements of God’s House (Part Five)
III. Despising the Words of God
Today, we continue from our previous fellowship, which addressed the tenth manifestation of antichrists—they despise the truth, brazenly flout principles, and ignore the arrangements of God’s house. This item is divided into three sections. The first two have been fellowshipped, and today we will fellowship the third: Antichrists despise the words of God. Previously, some manifestations and sayings about this aspect were fellowshipped, such as how antichrists doubt God’s words, do not believe them, and are filled with curiosity toward them, lacking any element of belief and consisting only of doubt, testing, and speculation. In short, antichrists do not regard God’s words as the truth, nor do they practice them. When faced with matters, they do not seek the principles of practice according to God’s words. In their hearts, they frequently harbor doubt, resistance, and denial toward God’s words. All these can be said to be manifestations of antichrists despising the words of God. Today, we will fellowship further on the more in-depth and specific attitudes and actions of antichrists toward God’s words, to dissect how exactly they despise God’s words. Regarding how antichrists despise God’s words, we will continue to fellowship item by item. Won’t this way be clearer? (Yes.) If I were to fellowship in a general way now, and you possessed a certain comprehension ability, sufficient caliber, and spiritual understanding, and often received light from God’s words, then what I previously fellowshipped would actually be enough for you. However, most people do not possess the caliber to comprehend God’s words; they do not reach the level where they can treat God’s words as the truth to be comprehended. Therefore, we need to fellowship item by item. This topic is specifically divided into several smaller sections.
A. Antichrists Arbitrarily Tamper With and Interpret the Words of God
The first item is that antichrists arbitrarily tamper with and interpret the words of God. Previously, we have fellowshipped on this aspect through some specific examples, though not in a targeted, detailed dissection, just in passing. What are the manifestations of antichrists arbitrarily tampering with and interpreting God’s words? In regard to this item, how do antichrists act? The fact that antichrists can display such behavior and adopt such actions toward God’s words indicates, from the point of view of their nature, that they do not believe in their hearts that God’s words are the truth, sacred, and unoffendable. Regardless of which aspect of the words of the truth God expresses, whether it appears simple or profound to people, it is still God’s words, it is the truth, and is inseparably linked with one’s life entry, dispositional transformation, and salvation. However, antichrists do not see it this way; they are not conscious of this in their hearts, nor do they have such awareness or understanding. They do not believe that God’s words are the truth, nor do they recognize the great importance of God’s words for one’s life entry. On the contrary, they believe that God’s words, on the surface, appear to be just human words, and quite ordinary. They only seem so important because all who follow God, God’s house, and the church have labeled them as “God’s words.” But in reality, on the surface, God’s words seem like common phrases often spoken by people. Literally, these words contain elements of human language, they contain the logic, thought, and diction of human language, including some colloquialisms, idioms, sayings, and even two-part proverbs. Antichrists do not see God’s words as something as grandiose, inscrutable, or profound as one might imagine, not like the legendary scriptures from heaven. To them, they are just plain and ordinary. Thus, after much scrutiny, they ultimately arrive at a definition in their hearts: These words are just plain language, quite practical, something believers should read, words that can help with one’s behavior and faith. After much reading, this is the conclusion they reach. Even some antichrists and egotists take God’s words and read so many chapters and pages in one go. Some even read the book The Word Appears in the Flesh from beginning to end within a month, leaving some profound impressions in their minds and thoughts. They gain a general understanding of some spiritual terminologies, the tone and manner of God’s speech, and even the content of God’s words at different stages. After reading, they say, “God’s words are just so-so. I’ve read them all in one go and understood the general content of god’s six-thousand-year management plan. So, god’s words are not that profound. To elevate god’s words to the level of the truth, as something essential for people’s life entry, seems a bit excessive.” Therefore, no matter how they view these words, their ultimate definition of God’s words in their heart is that they are not as profound or difficult to understand as people imagine. Anyone who is educated and has eyes can understand them. After reading back and forth, not only do they fail to recognize or understand the various truths about life entry that people ought to understand from God’s words, gaining enlightenment, sustenance, and help from them, but they also feel that God’s words are far from the truth and the scriptures from heaven. After reaching such a conclusion, antichrists despise God’s words even more. They believe that God’s words are merely this, that God is merely this, and the truth is merely this. With such an attitude and understanding, antichrists’ inner stance toward God’s words and The Word Appears in the Flesh leads them to further despise God’s words and the truth. They use their knowledge and intellect, relying on their memories and cleverness, to rapidly grasp the content and so-called principles of these words, as well as some of the tone, style, and diction used in them, the latter of which includes common and idiomatic expressions. Subsequently, they feel that they have attained everything and have it all. Such understanding and attitude lead them to even more recklessly despise and question God’s words in their hearts and further doubt God’s identity and essence.
Looking at it from the nature of antichrists, one can see that they are averse to the truth, despise positive things, despise God’s humbleness and hiddenness, and despise God’s faithfulness, realness, and loveliness. This series of disdain leads antichrists to unconsciously and naturally carry out some nauseating actions that God detests and condemns. These actions include arbitrarily tampering with and interpreting God’s words. What does tampering refer to? Antichrists do not believe that there is truth in God’s words, do not believe that God’s words can grant people life, and even less do they believe that these words are the foundation man relies upon for survival and the direction and path for man’s progress. Therefore, they do not understand why God speaks in these ways, nor do they know why God speaks such words in a particular context, and they are even more clueless about why God speaks these specific contents. Regarding how these contents came about, what God thinks, and what God aims to observe, accomplish, and effectuate in people while speaking these words, as well as—within these words—all that God aims to achieve, His intentions, and the truth, antichrists are completely clueless and utterly ignorant—they are laypeople when it comes to this. Therefore, in their hearts, they often feel that God should not have said this phrase in that way, that sentence should follow this one, this sentence should be phrased like this, that passage should have this tone or that intonation, this word choice is incorrect, and that term is inconsiderate and unbefitting of God’s identity, thus forming their opinions. In their eyes, God’s words are not as good as any famous or great person’s works in the world. They feel that God’s speech isn’t rigorous enough, that it’s verbose, and that some words, if scrutinized closely, do not strictly speaking conform to human grammatical and lexical rules. “How can there be truth in these words? How can these be god’s words? How can they be the truth?” Antichrists calculate and ponder in their hearts while simultaneously doubting and condemning. With such an attitude, such thoughts, and such a perspective on God’s words, the antichrists ready their devilish claws.
I recall that a few years ago, an incident occurred in the hymn team. They wanted to compose music for an essential passage of God’s words to be sung in the church. During the composition, they found that the length of God’s speech and the number of words did not match the melody; each line of the lyrics had too many words. Additionally, the entire song’s melody, if applied to God’s words, made the words seem too numerous and too long. So, what was their solution? They found a way: They altered some of the phrasing and diction of God’s words without changing their apparent meaning—for instance, turning a four-character idiom into a two-character word, or deleting sentences that seemed lengthy, unnecessary, and nonsensical. Following this principle, they set the edited version of God’s words to music and disseminated it in the church for singing. Most people, muddled as they were, thought it was a hymn of God’s words, but who knew that such a passage was not God’s words at all? It was a passage arbitrarily modified and abridged by antichrists, messed with and altered. Later, when this hymn was being prepared for a program, I asked which chapter of God’s words the hymn was based on. They told Me it was the first passage of a particular chapter. I found that passage and compared it with the one in the hymnbook, and it gave Me quite a shock. The passage in the hymnbook was nominally a selected segment from that chapter of God’s words, but it had been altered beyond recognition. The tone of the speech was gone, many important words were omitted, the content of the speech was disordered, and even the sequence of words was inverted. If no one had told Me this passage was excerpted from a particular chapter of God’s words, I don’t think anyone could identify which chapter it was from; it didn’t match the original at all. On the surface, these people were doing their duty: By setting God’s words to music for everyone to sing and internalize, God’s words could continually lead and guide people, and it could help people enter into God’s words. What a wonderful deed this was! However, due to the antichrists’ utter lack of a God-fearing heart, they treated God’s words as if they were the words spoken by ordinary people in conversation, arbitrarily deleting and tampering with them. Without asking a single question and without anyone’s permission or agreement—or much less any authorization from anyone—they completely changed God’s words, and yet they led people to believe that they were doing their duty, that they had set God’s words to music. What kind of behavior and method is this? What disposition do the people who engage in such behavior and such a method have? Those who avail of such a method, who treat God’s words with such an attitude, do their hearts actually have any fear in the way they treat God’s words? Do they cherish God’s words? Do they treat God’s words as the truth? Judging from their irreverent and casual attitude toward God’s words, not only do they not cherish them, but they also treat God’s words as playthings, casually altering them at whim. Isn’t their attitude toward God’s words indicative of their attitude toward God Himself? (Yes.) It’s precisely the same. God’s words represent God Himself; they are an expression of God, an expression of His disposition, and a revelation of His essence. If people are so irreverent and casual toward God’s words, it goes without saying how they treat God Himself. This speaks volumes.
People outwardly follow God, forsaking, expending, and enduring hardship for Him, but their attitude toward God’s words is so irreverent and casual. Antichrists might even decorate the book The Word Appears in the Flesh beautifully, wrap it in cloth, and store it in the safest place. But what can this prove? Can it show that they cherish God’s words, that they have God-fearing hearts? Can these superficial actions cover up their irreverent attitude toward God’s words? They cannot. Whenever they read God’s words, they always think about altering some of the terms, expressions, and tones in them. And to what extent are some antichrists audacious? When they find something in God’s words that doesn’t match their notions, or they think the wording is improper or grammatically incorrect, or even they believe a punctuation mark is wrong, they will loudly proclaim and exaggerate the matter, wishing the whole world knew about a misplaced punctuation mark, an improper word choice, or a seemingly unreasonable statement in God’s words. They spread this with a mocking and disdainful tone. It seems that at these moments, they finally find what they consider evidence of errors in God’s words, a handle to gain leverage, a flaw, and they can finally reassure themselves in their hearts that God’s words also have mistakes and that God is not perfect. Isn’t this the disposition of an antichrist? Antichrists aim to find faults and errors in God’s words; this is an attitude of hostility, not one of submission and acceptance. Speaking of antichrists arbitrarily tampering with and interpreting God’s words, can the incident that occurred in the hymn team that was just mentioned be considered tampering with God’s words? (Yes.) Tell Me, what kind of person would alter God’s words so arbitrarily? Do they have any fear of God? (No.) What disposition is this? Firstly, do they treat God’s words as God’s words? (No.) Then what do they treat God’s words as? They treat them as human words. It might be acceptable to alter articles of people’s experiential testimony if the words are incoherent or imperfect, but to dare to do the same with God’s words, what is the nature of this? Isn’t this acting willfully and recklessly without having a God-fearing heart? To dare to arbitrarily comment on and alter God’s words, to change them whenever they don’t suit one’s own ideas or viewpoint—is the nature of this serious? (Yes.)
Who else is involved in tampering with God’s words? During the process of preaching the gospel, some potential gospel recipients come into contact with God’s words and have various notions about God’s tone, style, the perspective from which He speaks, and even the wording and pronouns used, among many other aspects. Different people all have different notions; those from different denominations have different tastes and requirements. Some members of the gospel team say, “It’s difficult to preach the gospel this way! Some of god’s words are too harsh; with some of them it seems like god is cursing at people. They’re not at all gentle, they lack love, and are all everyday language. Some are specifically targeted at certain ethnicities, while others disclose mysteries—people don’t find any of this acceptable! These words have become a stumbling block for potential gospel recipients to accept god’s new work. What should we do?” Someone says, “I have a solution. Since potential gospel recipients can’t accept god’s new work because of these words, why not just delete them? Mark all the words and contents that people are unwilling to accept, even if it’s a single sentence, and remove them when printing. This way, when potential gospel recipients read it, there won’t be any words that wound their pride or hurt their feelings, nor anything that contradicts their notions. All of god’s words will be appropriate, the recipients won’t have any notions, and they will be able to smoothly accept god’s new work.” In the gospel team, some have actually done this, and without even inquiring or asking for consent from the Above, they printed and widely distributed booklets containing these abridged and tampered words of God. For the sake of their convenience in work, to gain more people, to show their work capability, and to appear loyal in their duty, they concocted this method and even turned it into reality by printing it into a book. But this book is entirely different from The Word Appears in the Flesh. Is this method not tampering with God’s words? (Yes.) Do most people realize that tampering with God’s words is a way of resisting God? (Yes.) Do most people have this awareness? Today, after fellowshipping so much, you can readily say yes. But if you were preaching the gospel three or five years ago, would you have been aware that not a single word or sentence of God’s should be altered? Would you have had such a God-fearing heart? (No.) So, within what context would you have lacked this awareness? Would it have been within the context of totally lacking a God-fearing heart that you would have dared to arbitrarily tamper with God’s words? If someone entirely lacks a God-fearing heart, they will dare to arbitrarily tamper with God’s words, changing the original meaning, the manner of God’s speech, and the desired effect of a certain passage of God’s words, deleting the intentions, core, and emphasis of what this passage articulates—this all amounts to tampering.
A few years ago, during a chance encounter, someone from the gospel team posed a question: “When testifying for god’s new work to a certain ethnic group, they feel repulsed and unwilling to listen to the parts where god exposes them, and they have notions about these parts. So these words become a barrier to their acceptance of god’s new work. We’re thinking of altering those words. Once changed, they will be able to accept them, and no longer have notions about god’s new work or this incarnation of god.” What do you think about this question? If it weren’t for this opportunity to meet and discuss the work of the gospel, they might have taken it upon themselves to alter these words. Perhaps according to their imaginings, three, five, ten, or even more people from that ethnic group might then accept God’s new work. But leaving that aside for now, those preaching the gospel always want to change God’s words to align with human notions. They always want to delete the words where God exposes and judges corrupt humankind, where He exposes the essence of corrupt humankind. What is the nature of such behavior? Does this kind of action reflect a God-fearing heart? (No.) In My view, it’s not that people of a certain ethnicity or denomination have notions about God’s words; it’s fundamentally the people preaching the gospel who have notions. God’s words don’t pass muster with them; they contradict and are averse to them deep down, they don’t want to listen and don’t like these words from God. They believe that if these are truly god’s words, they should be loving and not expose people so nakedly and bluntly, as if slapping their faces. So, they strongly demand, if they are to preach the gospel, can these words be removed? To preach the gospel and gain people, can God make concessions just once, speak more tactfully and pleasingly? To make more people accept God’s new work, to bring more people before God, can God change His strategy and manner of speaking, compromise and yield to corrupt humankind, bow down, apologize, and beg for forgiveness? Thus, the problem lies fundamentally with the gospel workers, not with people of any particular denomination. Without altering a single word or sentence of God’s words, and given that God’s words can make all people engender notions, there are still many who gradually come before God and accept His new work. Have their notions prevented them from accepting God’s new work? Not at all. If these words spoken by God are not what man needs and don’t reflect the actual situation of man, then it would be understandable for people not to accept God’s words, and God might consider changing His way of speaking and the content of His speech. However, every word and sentence spoken by God reflects the actual situation of man and is related to man’s life entry and salvation. If people have notions and can’t accept them, it proves that humans are wicked, filthy, and so deeply corrupted, and that they are unworthy to come before God. It does not prove that God’s words are wrong or that they aren’t the truth.
What should be done about corrupt humankind having notions about God’s words and work? Those preaching the gospel have been watered by God’s words and have listened to them for so many years. Not to mention how much truth you understand, just speaking theoretically, the visions of God’s work, God’s intentions, the purpose of God’s six-thousand-year management plan, the work of God’s salvation of man—haven’t you understood, remembered, and grasped all these aspects of the truth? If you had all these equipped, would you still be afraid of people having notions? If you are afraid, you should proactively clarify to the potential gospel recipients; testify for God’s intentions to them, explain the truth clearly! If after listening to God’s words for so many years you still can’t explain or clarify them, then you are utterly useless! You are doing this duty, and every day you’re engaged with these topics, these contents, these matters—why would you still think of using such a despicable method as tampering with God’s words to preach the gospel and gain people? Outwardly, this may seem like only a mistaken action, a despicable means, a display of incompetence, but essentially, it is an undoubted manifestation of an antichrist’s essence—not a bit less. It is God’s people who treasure God’s word, who cherish God’s word, who fear God’s word, who respect every word and sentence that God says as well as how He speaks, the perspective from which He speaks, and what He says in each passage. Only God’s enemies often mock and scorn His words. They hold them in disdain. They do not treat God’s words as the truth, as words expressed by the Creator. As such, in their hearts, they often desire to tamper with God’s words and interpret them arbitrarily. They attempt to use their ways, their modes of thought and the logic of their thinking to alter God’s words, so that they conform to corrupt human tastes, corrupt human points of view, and corrupt human modes of thought and philosophy, in an effort to win acclaim from more people in the end. God’s word is God’s word, whichever part of God’s words it is, however it is spoken, and from whichever perspective it is spoken. In order that corrupt mankind can more readily understand, better appreciate, and more easily gain the word of God, so that they can understand the truth in His words, God often uses human languages, human methods, as well as ways, tone of speech, and verbal logic that are much easier for people to comprehend, to explain His intentions and to tell mankind of that which they should enter. Yet it is precisely these inconspicuous methods and this inconspicuous tone, and various inconspicuous words that are exploited by antichrists to condemn God and to deny that His word is truth. Isn’t this the case? (Yes.) These antichrists often use knowledge and the works of famous people, even the speeches, diction, and demeanor of famous people, to compare with God’s words. The more they compare, the more they feel God’s words are too shallow, too straightforward, too colloquial. Thus, they increasingly want to alter God’s words, to “correct” them, as well as “correct” the tone, style, and perspective from which God speaks. No matter how God speaks or how much benefit His words bring to man, in the hearts of antichrists, they never regard God’s words as the truth. They do not seek out the truth, principles of practice, or the path for life entry in God’s words. Instead, they consistently approach God’s words from a perspective of scrutiny, with an attitude of studying, with an attitude of thorough scrutiny and investigation. After all the scrutinizing and investigating, they still feel there are many of God’s words that need to be changed and amended. Thus, for antichrists, from the day they first came into contact with God’s words until today—after having believed for 10, 20, or 30 years—deep down, they still don’t believe that God’s words contain life, the truth, the gate to the kingdom or the path to heaven that people speak of. They can’t see it, and can’t discover it. So, what do they feel? They wonder why it is that the more they believe, the more they find God’s words too colloquial. They wonder why it is that the more they believe, the less interested they become in God’s words. They begin to doubt whether God’s words are really the truth. What kind of sign is this? A good sign or a bad sign? (A bad sign.) It is quite a miracle that they have believed in God to this point! They have believed themselves into a dead end, losing sight of the truth entirely. Isn’t this the end of their faith?
Have you noticed this fact? From the day everyone started believing in God, reading His words, forsaking their families, careers, studies, and prospects in the world, everyone was at the same starting line. But, imperceptibly, during the race, some people fell behind and no longer wanted to do their duty. Where did they go? Some were relegated to Group B, others to ordinary churches, and some barely managed to stay in a part-time church. Those who don’t wish to do their duty in God’s house and become the targets of clearing out, who no longer qualify to do their duty—why have they ended up where they are today? If you try to perceive their attitude toward God with human eyes, you can’t see it because you don’t know what’s in their hearts. Whether they love or hate God, whether they resist or submit to Him, you can’t tell. So, how do you determine a person’s disposition essence? It’s easy: Just look at their attitude toward God’s words. This group of people has one common characteristic regarding their attitude toward God’s words: No matter the situation, they don’t feel the need for God’s words for sustenance. No matter what difficulties they face, they don’t seek principles or search for the truth in God’s words. These people rarely read God’s words, and they even feel repulsed when someone pray-reads God’s words or fellowships about their understanding of them. How do they show repulsion? They think, “I already know all you’re saying; you don’t need to say it. I’ve read these words of god before; I understand everything.” If they understand everything, why were they cleared out? Why were they relegated to Group B? What’s going on? The root is that these people fundamentally don’t accept God’s words; they despise and are hostile toward them. Can someone who despises and is hostile to God’s words practice them? When you tell them, “If you’ve encountered some situation, you should read God’s words!” what’s their attitude? What are their specific reactions? (They would say practical problems need practical solutions; there’s no need to read God’s words.) They think reading God’s words is a vague approach, and practical problems require practical solutions. This is the tone of an antichrist. What do they mean? “Humans have their own ways; what’s the use of reading god’s words? Do you think god’s words can solve everything?” They assume that if a person encounters some difficulty, it’s merely a difficulty, not at all a reflection of that person’s inner state or disposition. They don’t see this, nor do they acknowledge it as fact. They believe, “Human difficulties are like a machine missing a screw; just put the screw in, and it’s fixed. Why seek god’s words? That’s all fake spirituality. I would never do that; it’s foolish! Do you think god’s words can solve everything? It’s not like that at all.” This is clearly someone who does not accept the truth. Moreover, when some people face issues, and you fellowship with them to help, reading them a passage of God’s words, they respond after listening: “I’ve already memorized that passage, I’ve recited it many times. Why are you telling me? I understand it better than you do, and it’s useless, it won’t solve my problem!” What is the issue here? (They don’t accept the truth.) They don’t accept the truth and refuse to acknowledge their own corruption, which is problematic. They don’t admit their corruption, so they think reading God’s words is just going through the motions, is useless. They want to find a quick fix, a miracle cure to solve their problems, and the essence of this issue is a refusal to accept the truth.
Regarding this manifestation of tampering with and interpreting God’s words, do you have any examples? (During the production of the 20th video of the choral album, God instructed that the scriptures be listed one by one on the screen. At that time, some brothers and sisters found the scriptures too long and deleted some phrases. Later, God discovered this issue and dissected it quite sternly, saying it was a blasphemy of God’s words.) As for the original words of God recorded in the Bible, those are God’s words and must not be altered by people, and the same goes for the prophecies of some prophets; these too are God’s words, they are inspired by God and also should not be altered. In My view, although these words are not in the original language and are translations, the meaning of the translated text has been largely accurate over many years of revisions. You should recognize this. Therefore, these words, if used in regular fellowship, don’t need to be recounted in full; the gist can be conveyed. However, the actual facts shouldn’t be altered. If quoting, the original complete sentences must be extracted. How does this principle sound? (Good.) Why do it this way? Some people say, “That’s all in the past, do we need to be so serious?” No, this is about an attitude, a mindset. Whether in the past, present, or future, God’s words are God’s words and should not be equated with human words. People should treat God’s words with a rigorous attitude. After the Bible was translated from the original text into various languages, some meanings might not align precisely with the original, or there might be discrepancies between the same sentence in a translation and in the original text. Translators might add, “Note: something something,” or add in brackets, “Or translated as….” Do you think the people who translated the original texts of the Bible were all believers in God? (Not necessarily.) They certainly weren’t people who feared God and shunned evil, so why could they handle this task with such precision? Nonbelievers call this professionalism, but believers in God should call it having a God-fearing heart. If you don’t even have this much of a God-fearing heart, are you still a believer in God?
You must have a devout attitude toward the words of God, and when you gather and fellowship on God’s words, after you have read them, you can incorporate your personal experiences as you talk of your own knowledge and what you have learned from these experiences. You must not, however, treat God’s words as your own private works and interpret them however you wish. God’s words do not need you to explain them, nor could you explain them clearly or understandably. It is enough that you have some minor enlightenment and illumination or experience, but to try to explain the truth, or to try to use your explanation to allow people to understand God’s intentions would be impossible. This is the wrong way of doing things. For example, some people read in God’s words that God loves honest people. God once told man, “Let your communication be, Yes, yes; No, no: for whatever is more than these comes of evil” (Matthew 5:37). Today, God’s words also call for people to be honest. So what should be the right attitude to take toward God’s words and demands? Search in God’s words: God said, “Let your communication be, Yes, yes; No, no.” How exactly do those who are honest in the eyes of God behave, then? How do honest people speak, how do they act, how do they approach their duty, and how do they work harmoniously with others? People should search God’s words for these principles and paths of practice and become the honest people that He demands. This is the right attitude, the attitude that ought to be possessed by those who seek the truth. So how do those who do not seek or love the truth, and who have no fearful heart of God and His words behave? After reading God’s words, they think, “God demands that people be honest; that’s what the lord Jesus said before. Today, god is once more saying for people to be honest. I’ve got it—are honest people not simply those who are guileless? Is it not as people say, that guileless people ever prevail, that the good have peaceful lives, and that it is a sin to cheat those who are guileless? Look, god is redressing the injustices suffered by the guileless.” Are these words the truth? Are these truth principles that they have identified from God’s words? (No.) So what are these words? Could they be called heresies and fallacies? (They could.) Those who have no spiritual understanding and do not love the truth always connect God’s words with what, among mankind, is believed to be pleasing to the ear and right. Is this not downgrading the value of God’s words? Is this not making the truth into a kind of slogan among mankind, an argument for how to conduct oneself? God calls for people to be honest, but these people ignore how those who are honest behave, how to be honest, and what the precepts of being honest are, unabashedly stating that God asks that people be guileless, and that people who are guileless, good-for-nothings, and fools are all honest. Is this not a misinterpretation of God’s words? They misinterpret God’s words, yet still think themselves very clever, at the same time thinking that God’s words are nothing more than this: “The truth isn’t so profound, is it not just being a guileless person? It’s pretty simple to be a guileless person: Don’t steal and don’t swear at people or hit others. ‘Execution does nothing but make heads roll; be lenient wherever possible.’ Be lenient with others in all things, be strict with yourself and tolerant of others, be a good person, and the good have peaceful lives.” They say a lot, but none of it is in line with the truth; it is nothing but heresies and fallacies. It seems to bear some relation to the words of God, it appears to have a bit of a connection to them, but after one ponders and discerns the matter, they realize it is nothing but misleading statements, nothing except fallacies that disturb people’s thoughts. For example, God says that there is love in His essence, that He loves man. God’s love of man is shown to people through what He says, the way He treats man, His painstaking efforts to save man, and the myriad aspects of how He works in man, and at the same time as showing His salvation of man, God’s intention and the means by which He saves man are also made evident so that people will know God’s love. What do those people who lack spiritual understanding think? “God is a god that loves man, god wants every person to be saved and does not want anyone to suffer perdition. God has said that the returned prodigal son is worth more than gold.” Did God say this? Are these God’s original words? (No.) What else do they say? “Saving one life beats building a seven-tier pagoda” and “The Buddha is benevolent.” Are they not turning things upside down? Clearly, they are only pretending to be spiritual, to understand God’s words, and to love the truth; they are obviously outsiders, laymen, and fools with no spiritual understanding. I have met many such people—they’re rash folks, bold in speech but bereft of brains, the thoughts and arisings in their minds nothing but heresies, fallacies, and fakeries. Those who possess the utmost powers of misleading others and are able to often employ these heresies and fallacies and some seemingly sound theological arguments to mislead others, forcing them to obey and practice what they say—these people are antichrists. To all appearances, they seem highly spiritual, often quoting passages of God’s words in front of others, and once they have finished arbitrarily interpreting them, then they let loose some heresies and fallacies. Such people can be found in every church. They help and lead people under the banner of quoting and fellowshipping on God’s words, but in fact, what they are instilling in people is not what God’s words demand of man, nor the truth principles contained in God’s words, but rather heresies and fallacies which they come up with through processing, interpreting, and imagining based on God’s words, causing people to stray from the words of God, and obey them instead and causing disturbances and misleading people. For example, there are those who say: “In doing the work of his six-thousand-year management plan, god has experienced the abandonment and resistance of all mankind; god is god, and his heart has no bounds! As people say, ‘A prime minister’s heart is big enough to sail a boat in,’ and ‘It is never too late for a gentleman to take his revenge.’ How magnanimous god is!” To all appearances, they seem to be bearing witness for God and what God has and is to people, but what message are they actually transmitting? Is it the truth? Is it truly the essence of God? (No.) Who are they bearing witness for? They are bearing witness for the prime minister. They are likening God to a prime minister, to a gentleman—is this not blasphemy? Can such words be found in God’s words? (No.) So where did these words come from? From Satan. Not only do antichrists not bear witness for God, they also twist the facts and blaspheme against God, often misleading those who have no foundation, who lack true faith in God, and who are incapable of understanding the truth. These people are of small stature, have no foundation, and have no ability to comprehend the truth, and so they are misled by these heresies and fallacies. Antichrists treat the heresies and fallacies as spiritual sayings, and one thing they say about God’s love is, “God wants every person to be saved and does not want anyone to suffer perdition.” When speaking about what God demands of man, another thing they say is, “The good have peaceful lives.” And about God not remembering people’s transgressions and His leaving them a chance to repent, they say, “Execution does nothing but make heads roll; be lenient wherever possible.” Can such words be found in the words of God? (No.) Why do I get so angry as soon as I hear these words? Why am I so bothered by them? Why do I get so worked up? For how many years have these people been reading God’s words? Are they dull-witted, or have they gone insane? Where in God’s words are such things mentioned? When did God demand that people be guileless? When did God demand that people abide by the saying “Execution does nothing but make heads roll; be lenient wherever possible”? Is this what God does? Where, in these heresies and fallacies that they espouse, can any connection be made to what God demands of mankind, His intentions, and the truth principles? They are wholly unrelated. For example, God lets people have ideals, wills, and pursuits, but what antichrists say is: “God encourages us to have pursuits. There’s a saying that conveys this well: ‘A soldier who doesn’t want to be a general is not a good soldier.’” This saying is a sort of societal trend, a societal view—is it appropriate to use it in God’s house? Is it useful? (No.) Which of God’s words does this statement align with? Is it related to God’s words? (No.) Then why do antichrists say it? Their aim in saying this is to make people feel deeply that they are very spiritual, that they have understanding of and enlightenment from God’s words, that they have the ability to comprehend the truth, and that they’re not ignorant commoners. But does it achieve their expected purpose? Upon hearing these words, do you feel approval or repulsion in your hearts? (Repulsion.) In what way does it make you feel repulsed? (Antichrists link Satan’s fallacies together with God’s words, misconstruing them. All of the words that they speak lack spiritual understanding.) Antichrists speak only words that reflect a lack of spiritual understanding, causing people to feel disgusted and averse upon hearing them. They clearly don’t understand God’s words, cannot grasp them, and lack the caliber and ability to comprehend God’s words, yet they pretend to understand them and shamelessly interpret them to others, speaking irrelevant and amateurish words that disgust people, offering no edification, and instead upsetting people’s thoughts. This is truly detestable! What should you do when you encounter such people? (We must dissect the fallacious parts of what they are saying.) How should you go about doing this? Actually, it’s quite easy. You say to them: “Your grasp of God’s words after reading them doesn’t seem like much to me.” They respond, “I don’t think so, I feel it’s good.” You say, “You think it’s good no matter what, so by your reasoning, does that mean God’s words are equivalent to human heresies and fallacies? If you agree with these heresies and fallacies, then why do you even read God’s words? You don’t need to read them. This problem of yours is serious now—you’re treating God’s words as wicked humankind’s philosophy for worldly dealings, as the methods of handling things and views of wicked humankind. In your view, the honest people God speaks of are just the same as guileless people, huge fools, and simpletons. You interpret every word spoken by God using human terms, equating them to fallacies and sayings summed up by wicked humankind. Are you implying, then, that God’s words are human words, human language, and human heresies and fallacies? In understanding God’s words this way, you’re not comprehending them; you’re blaspheming against them and blaspheming against God.” Would you all be able to speak these words clearly? If God’s words meant what antichrists say, then why wouldn’t God just directly say those words? When God tells people to be honest, why doesn’t He just tell them to be guileless and be good people and stop there? Is it merely a difference of wording? (No.) God’s words are the truth, and within them lies a path for people to practice. If people act and live according to God’s words, they can become people who fear God and shun evil, people who are in line with God’s intentions. Meanwhile, acting and living according to what humans say turns one into a complete muddler, an outright living Satan. Do you recognize this point? What would be the result if you acted and practiced according to what God said to be an honest person? And what would be the result if you acted and lived according to what humans called a good or guileless person? Wouldn’t the results be different? (Yes.) So what is the result of living as an honest person? (Having normal humanity, being able to worship God, calling a spade a spade, and being able to be frank and open with God. If one conducts themselves as the guileless or good person as defined by humans, they become increasingly cunning and adept at disguising themselves, they only speak pleasant words, they live by Satan’s philosophy for worldly dealings, and they become a living Satan.) You see, there’s a difference, isn’t there? Acting and living according to what God calls an honest person makes a person’s heart increasingly purer; their heart is able to be open to God, and they are able to give their heart to God without disguising, cheating, or falsifying. Their heart doesn’t hide from God but is simply opened to Him; what they think inside is outwardly revealed and lived out, and what’s outwardly revealed and lived out is consistent with what’s inside them. This is what God wants; this is the truth. On the other hand, what are the principles of conducting oneself and the principles of practice for those whom people call guileless or good? Actually, it’s all a guise. They don’t readily say what they’re thinking, nor do they let others see it. They do not rashly hurt others’ self-esteem or interests, but not harming others is also for self-preservation. They’re cautious inside and camouflaged on the outside, appearing particularly devout, tolerant, patient, and compassionate. But no one can see what they’re thinking inside; there’s corruption, resistance, and rebellion in them, but others can’t see it. On the outside, they pretend to appear particularly edifying, gentle, and kind. No matter how many bad things they do, or how rebellious or wicked they are inside, no one can tell. Outwardly, they’re also willing to help others and give to the needy, always ready to respond, a veritable living Lei Feng. They smile and show others their best side at all times, and no matter how many tears they’ve shed in private, they always wear a smile in front of others, making people feel edified. Isn’t this what people call a good person? Comparing this good person with an honest person, which is positive? Which one possesses the truth reality? (The honest person.) Honest people possess the truth reality, are loved by God, and meet God’s standards as He demands, whereas good and guileless people do not; they are precisely the kind of people that God condemns and spurns. When antichrists arbitrarily interpret the honest people that God demands as just good or guileless people, isn’t this a sort of imperceptible condemnation of what God has said? Isn’t this blaspheming God’s words? Isn’t it blaspheming the truth? This is an obvious fact. Antichrists don’t understand God’s words, much less what the truth is, yet they resort to flawed arguments and blindly apply their own interpretations, feigning understanding when they are clueless, wildly misinterpreting God’s words at will, and misleading and disturbing others. Would you act like this? Pretending to understand God’s words when one clearly doesn’t and, based on one’s literal understanding, using one’s own vocabulary, expressions, and viewpoints to interpret and delimit God’s words—this is the disposition of an antichrist.
What is the difference in substance between the words of God and man, and between the truth and doctrine? God’s words cause people to grow in reason and conscience, to act with principle, and what they live out to become increasingly possessed of the reality of positive things. The words of man, on the other hand, may seem to sit perfectly with people’s tastes and notions, but they are not the truth, they brim with pitfalls, temptation, and heresies and fallacies, and so if people act according to these words, what they live out will stray ever further from God, and from the standards of God. Even more serious, the way people live will become ever more evil and akin to Satan. When people live and act entirely by the heresies and fallacies of man, when they have wholly embraced these arguments, they live as Satan. And does living as Satan not imply that they are Satans? (Yes.) So they have “successfully” become living Satans. Some people say, “I don’t believe it. I just want to be a guileless person who is liked by others. I want to be someone that most people regard as good, and then I’ll see whether god takes delight in me or not.” If you do not believe what God says, go and look, and—see if God’s words are the truth, or if man’s notions are the truth. This is the difference in essence between the words of God and the words of man. It is the essential distinction between the truth and heresies and fallacies. No matter how the heresies and fallacies of man seem to fit with people’s tastes, they can never become their life; meanwhile, no matter how unadorned the words of God seem, how vernacular, how at odds with people’s notions, their essence is the truth, and if what people do and live out is in accordance with the principles of God’s words, eventually, one day, they will become genuine qualified created beings, and will be capable of fearing God and shunning evil. Conversely, if people do not practice according to God’s words and do not act according to God’s demands, they cannot become qualified created beings. Their actions and the path they walk will only be spurned by God; this is a fact. Through this fellowship, do you have a new understanding or concept of God’s words? What are God’s words? They are the truth, the way, and the life—there is no falseness in this. Only antichrists, those who are innately averse to positive things and hate them, treat God’s words with disdain, do not regard God’s words as the truth, and deny the fact that God’s words are the truth, the way, and the life. At no time will they accept God’s words as their life; they are a group of people who are beyond saving. After such a fellowship, some understand that these manifestations amount to the tampering with and arbitrary interpretation of God’s words, which are manifestations of antichrists. Would you say that this includes those who organize God’s words? (Yes.) Does it? What does tampering mean? (It means to arbitrarily delete or add something, changing the original meaning of God’s words. This is tampering. If His words are organized according to the principles, then it’s not tampering.) That’s right, that’s what you need to understand. With this understanding, you won’t have any concerns when organizing God’s words, right? Can you now grasp the principles properly? When you are asked to organize, it’s not an invitation to tamper. There are also those who do translation work—these people are asked to translate God’s words directly and to translate the original meaning of God’s words and God’s own words into another language, not to interpret God’s words while translating. You’re not qualified to interpret, and you must pay attention to and be careful about this. Grasping the principles well, understanding what constitutes tampering and what does not—grasp these principles well, and it will be difficult to make such errors. If you don’t understand these principles and always want to add or modify the meaning while organizing, always feeling that the way God says this isn’t too ideal or the way He says that seems off, thinking it should be said a certain way, such thoughts will make you prone to committing the error of tampering. As for translators who say, “I know what this sentence of God’s words means, so I’ll translate based on that meaning. Once it’s translated, won’t the reader understand it and that’s that? There’ll be no need to seek or pray-read; they’ll directly receive enlightenment and light”—isn’t this a mistake? This violates the principles; it is arbitrarily interpreting God’s words. In summary, never treat God’s words as you would human words, like a novel, a famous person’s writings, or something related to scholarly discourse. In addition to not tampering with or arbitrarily interpreting them, one should approach God’s words with an attitude of seeking, acceptance, and submission when eating and drinking and pray-reading them. Only then can one see the truth, understand God’s intentions, find the path to practice in God’s words, and resolve their corrupt dispositions and the various difficulties encountered in doing their duty and in life. Achieving this result proves that your attitude toward God’s words is correct. Our fellowship on the first manifestation of antichrists despising the words of God—arbitrarily tampering with and interpreting the words of God—concludes on this point.
B. Antichrists Disclaim God’s Words When They Do Not Accord With Their Notions
The second manifestation is that antichrists disclaim God’s words when they do not accord with their notions. In God’s work, from the beginning up until now, God has spoken many words. The scope of these words is broad, and their content is rich, including aspects related to people’s intentions and viewpoints, as well as their serving of God. Of course, there is even more related to people’s corrupt dispositions, and an even larger part is related to God’s intentions and God’s requirements for humankind. Among these words, God has adopted a variety of speaking methods. Within these various speaking methods, some tones of speech are relatively close to humans at first, followed by judgment and exposure of humankind, as well as conquest of humankind, and then gradually telling people various aspects of the truth. The content of these words is multifaceted, but no matter how vast, it is all what corrupt humankind needs. Apart from a small portion of the most special content, the majority of these words are spoken according to human language patterns, in a tone, with wording, and using language logic that humans can all accept. In short, the styles and methods of these forms of language and speech are all common and very easy to understand. As long as one has normal thoughts, and a normal mind and reason, one can understand these words of God. The implication of this is: As long as one’s thoughts are normal, after reading these words, one can find the path of practice, know oneself, understand God’s intentions, and find the principles of practice. As long as one has a heart and possesses normal thoughts, these words of God can help people and guide them through various difficulties in life, and can also enable people to understand their own corrupt dispositions. Most of the content in God’s words is like this, but there is a portion that is spoken from the perspective of divinity, from the perspective of the Spirit. This portion of the content is very special. In the eyes of all humankind, this part of His words is very profound and difficult to understand. It seems to be a mystery, and also seems like a prophecy. In every sentence, every passage, and every chapter of speech, it is very difficult for people to discern God’s meaning, it is difficult to find the context of God’s words and God’s requirements for man, as well as the truth principles that people are seeking. So, what part of His words are these? They are “God’s Words to the Entire Universe” and its appendices. This part of His words is very difficult for people to understand. Let’s first put aside the matter of why God speaks this portion that is difficult for people to understand, and instead talk about which part of the topic we are to fellowship—“Antichrists disclaim God’s words when they do not accord with their notions”—is related to the portion what I’ve mentioned. Regarding most of the common, easy-to-understand, and complex-but-simply-expressed words that God speaks, as well as God’s warnings and reminders to man, exhortations and words of comfort to man, words of exposure and judgment to man, and words of provision and guidance to man, for those who do not at all pursue the truth, those who have deified the word “God” and would rather believe in a vague god, they think that these words do not seem like God’s words. They find them too common, too straightforward—just plain talk. They think that each chapter is too long. They don’t want to read these words. They think the words lack depth and mystery, and are therefore not worth reading. So, these words, in their view, are not the words of God. They say this because the content, manner, and style of these words do not suit their taste. So, what is their taste? They want to read profound texts, words that no matter how people read them remain incomprehensible, like an indecipherable tome from heaven; they want to read these. Antichrists disdain the kind of words provided by God that are spoken in a way, tone, and style that suits human tastes. They are full of notions, contempt, and ridicule toward these words. Therefore, these people do not read, look at, or listen to these common, easy-to-understand words that can provide people life. In their hearts, they are hostile, repelled, and refuse to accept these words. Why can they refuse, be repelled, and be hostile to these words? One reason is certain: They believe these words are spoken from the perspective of God in the flesh, so they consider these words to be human words. What is the concept of human words? In the view of antichrists, only the words of God, only heavenly scriptures are worthy of their reading. Only profound, unfathomable, and mysterious words deserve to be read by them. These common and easily understood human texts do not deserve to be read by them, cannot catch their “perceptive” eye, and they disdain them. They don’t read these words at all, let alone accept the truth within them.
Look around and see who doesn’t read God’s words; who stands up and leaves when someone is fellowshipping on God’s words; who, upon hearing God’s words being read or the truth being fellowshipped, yawns, stretches, fidgets, gets impatient, and looks for excuses to leave or makes interruptions, changing the subject to something else—such people are in danger. You can talk about theology, any fallacies, or any human viewpoints, and they will sit through it. But the moment you start preaching, pray-reading, or fellowshipping about God’s words, or exalting God’s words, they immediately change, revealing an abnormal demeanor, a demonic demeanor. When they hear God’s words being read, they become restless and annoyed, and the moment they hear someone fellowshipping on the truth, they become confrontational, and get up and walk away. What is the nature of this? What disposition is this? This is how antichrists are. Some might say, “How can You label them as antichrists? Maybe they are new believers who haven’t developed an interest in God’s words or tasted the sweetness of God’s words. Don’t You allow for the possibility that new believers might be small in stature?” If they are new believers small in stature and uninterested in God’s words, then why aren’t they repulsed when you talk about other things? If you discuss great disasters, the future of humankind, mysteries, or the Book of Revelation, see if they can sit still. They behave differently then. From the perspective of antichrists’ nature essence, they are hostile to the truth. How does this nature essence of hostility toward the truth reveal itself? It is that upon hearing God’s words, they feel repulsed, drowsy, and reveal various expressions of disdain, impatience, and unwillingness to listen. Their demonic demeanor is thus revealed. Outwardly, it seems they are doing their duty and they acknowledge themselves as followers of God. So why do they become unruly when the truth is fellowshipped, when God’s words are fellowshipped? Why can’t they sit still then? It’s as if God’s words carry a sword. Did God’s words pierce them? Did God’s words condemn them? No. Most of these words are for the nourishment of people, and upon hearing them, people are able to awaken, find a way to live, and be revived to live with human likeness. So why do some people react abnormally upon hearing these words? This is the devil revealing its true demeanor. They don’t feel repulsed when you talk about theology, heresies, fallacies, or the Book of Revelation. Even if you talk about being guileless, being a people pleaser, or tell heroic stories, they don’t feel repulsed. But the moment they hear God’s words being read, they feel repulsed, stand up, and want to leave. If you exhort them to listen properly, they become confrontational and they glare at you with anger. Why can’t such people take in God’s words? They can’t sit still when they hear God’s words—what’s going on here? This proves that their spirit within is abnormal, it is a spirit that is averse to the truth and is antagonistic to God. As soon as they hear God’s words, they become agitated inside, and the demon within them stirs, making them unable to sit still. This is the essence of an antichrist. So, from the outside, antichrists despise the words of God that do not accord with their notions. But what does this “not according with their notions” actually refer to? It clearly indicates that they condemn these words, they do not acknowledge them as coming from God and do not acknowledge them as the truth or as the way of life that saves people. Not according with their notions is merely an excuse, a surface-level phenomenon. What does it mean to not accord with their notions? Does every single person have no notions about all these words spoken by God? Can everyone accept them as God’s words, as the truth? No—every person, to a greater or lesser extent, at some level, has some thoughts, notions, or viewpoints that conflict or contradict God’s words. However, most people have normal rationality, and this rationality can help them overcome the attitude that crops up when they are confronted with God’s words that do not accord with their notions. Their rationality tells them, “Even if it doesn’t accord with my notions, these are still God’s words; even if it doesn’t accord with my notions, I am reluctant to listen, I feel it’s incorrect, and I feel it conflicts with my thoughts, these words are still the truth. I will slowly accept them, and one day when I recognize all of this, I will let go of my notions.” Their rationality tells them to first set aside their own notions; their notions are not the truth and cannot replace God’s words. Their rationality tells them to accept God’s words with an attitude of submission and honesty, instead of contradicting God’s words with their own notions and viewpoints. Thus, when they hear God’s words, they can accept those that accord with their notions and sit down to listen quietly. For those that don’t accord with their notions, they are also seeking solutions, striving to set aside their own notions and become compatible with God. This is the normal behavior of most rational people. However, the “not according with their notions” mentioned by antichrists is not the same as it is with ordinary people. In the antichrists’ case, it has serious issues; it is something completely opposite to God’s actions, words, essence, and disposition, something that belongs to a satanic disposition essence. In their case, it is condemnation, blasphemy, and mockery of God’s words. They believe that this common and easily understandable human language spoken by God is not the truth and cannot achieve the effect of saving people. This is the precise meaning of what antichrists mean by “not according with their notions.” So what is its essence? In reality, it is the condemnation, denial, and blasphemy of God.
Antichrists believe that when God stands in the perspective of humanity, a third-party perspective, using human language patterns, structure, and diction to speak to people, these words are not profound enough, not qualified to be defined as God’s words, so they would rather die than accept them. Some people say, “You say they don’t accept, but they also eat and drink God’s words, sometimes they have spiritual devotions, and sometimes when they fellowship with us, they even quote God’s words. How would You explain that?” That is a different matter; that’s just the surface, but essentially, antichrists define God’s words like this: “The words spoken by the incarnated son of man do not equate to the truth, much less god’s words, so I don’t need to accept, eat, drink, or submit to them.” However, regarding the part expressed by the flesh in which God is incarnate from the perspective of the Spirit, from the perspective of divinity—God’s Words to the Entire Universe—this is something antichrists can see but cannot reach. It’s a part of God’s words they are very passionate about. What does this passion refer to? It refers to the antichrists drooling over these words, thinking, “It’s precisely because of this part of your speech that you, an insignificant, unremarkable person, someone who is nothing in our eyes, have become god. It’s so unfair, there’s no justice!” However, there’s one aspect they find “worth celebrating.” It is precisely because of the expression of this part of God’s words that their desire and ambition to admire and revere the God in heaven are satisfied. It opens up a new horizon for them, and they say, “Wonderful, god is indeed god! This god is the one from the third heaven, the greatest of all. He is worthy of being god indeed; speaking such words is no simple feat. Not a single sentence can be understood by humans, these words are too profound, even more so than the prophecies of prophets!” Every time antichrists read these words, their hearts are filled with envy and jealousy, filled with admiration for the God in heaven. Every time they read these words, they feel they are the ones who love God the most; every time they read these words, they feel they are the closest to God. These words satisfy their curiosity about God to the greatest extent. Although in this part of God’s speech, they can’t understand at all what God’s intentions are, the context of each of God’s spoken sentences, what the ultimate effect is meant to be, or the meaning expressed between the lines, they still look forward to this part of His words with great anticipation. Why? Because this part is difficult to understand, it doesn’t have the sense of humanity seen in the incarnate God, it’s not spoken from the perspective of humanity or from that of a third party. In this part, they see God’s greatness, His unfathomability, and also perceive Him as something they can see but cannot reach. The more it is so, the more they believe that the God in heaven exists, and that the God on earth is too insignificant, that He is hard to believe in, and not worthy of belief. It’s not an exaggeration to say that some people have accepted God’s work in the last days because of this part of His words. Some have come to God’s work in the last days specifically for these words, and some are here just waiting for the fulfillment of this part of His words. Furthermore, through these words, some have confirmed the existence of God in heaven and thus despise even more the humbleness and insignificance of the God on earth. The more they read this part of His words, the more they feel that the God on earth, the incarnate God, speaks too shallowly. They say, “Your words are too easy to understand. Why don’t you say something that we can’t understand? Why don’t you speak about some mysteries? Why not speak the language of the third heaven? Why not speak in divine language? Let us broaden our horizons and expand our minds. If you spoke and acted like that, wouldn’t our faith be greater? Wouldn’t we stop resisting you? If you spoke and led us in that way, wouldn’t your status be higher? How could we then despise you?” Isn’t this somewhat unreasonable? It’s utterly irrational! Do people who are impervious to reason have normal humanity, do they have the thinking of normal humanity? (No.) So, do these types of antichrists, this group of people who react this way to God’s words, possess normal rationality? (No.) Sometimes when I come across people chatting, I join in to talk with them. But, to My surprise, they discuss such lofty topics that I can’t interject or join the conversation. They say, “It’s obvious you’re not cut out for this. You can’t speak the language of the third heaven. We’re speaking the language of the third heaven, which ordinary people can’t understand. So what if you’re god? You still can’t understand, so we don’t have to let you join.” Tell Me, what should I do in such situations? People should learn to be sensible. When I see them speaking such high and mighty language of the third heaven, and I can’t reach that level, then I should just leave rather than make a fool of Myself. Some antichrists openly preach these heresies, fallacies, and emptily impractical words which clearly originate from Satan, from the archangel. The words they speak sound sophisticated and high-level, beyond the reach of most normal people. What does it mean to be beyond reach? It means as soon as you hear it, you recognize it as devilish talk, and that you should reject them.
What is the essence of antichrists disclaiming the words of God that do not accord with their notions? Have you clearly seen it? They don’t even really read these words of God. Initially, out of curiosity, they skim through God’s words superficially. After a quick look, they think, “Most of these words are not worth reading, there’s nothing practical, valuable, or substantial, nothing worthy of in-depth research.” As they read on, they come across the part, God’s Words to the Entire Universe. They feel that this part has the flavor of divine language, with elevation and depth, worthy of human exploration and research—this suits their taste. What are they looking forward to now? “Who can explain this part? What exactly is god’s intention? What does each passage of god’s words mean, and how will it be fulfilled?” This is what antichrists most want to figure out, but they can’t understand it themselves. Do you think they should be told? (There’s no need.) Why not? Do devils deserve to hear God’s words? Do they deserve to know God’s mysteries? (No.) God’s mysteries are revealed to those who believe, follow, and submit to Him, and are hidden from devils and Satans; they are unworthy. Therefore, if one day God decides to disclose the mysteries and the essence of this part of His words, as well as the roots and context of these words, it will be disclosed to God’s chosen people, letting them know, but never to Satans or devils. If you are pursuers of the truth and are fortunate enough to remain until the end, you will have the opportunity to understand the content of this part of His words. There are many mysteries in God’s words and also in His work. For instance, God’s present incarnation; although—more or less, and to greater and lesser extents—there are some not-so-obvious prophecies regarding it in the Bible and in previous predictions, all of these prophecies are quite secretive. God’s present incarnation, in the whole of humankind and throughout the entire six-thousand-year management plan, is the greatest mystery and the most secretive matter. Humans don’t know, angels don’t know, all of God’s creations don’t know; even Satan, the most capable, doesn’t know about this matter. Why doesn’t it know? If God wanted to tell it, wouldn’t it be too easy for it to know? So why doesn’t it know? One thing is certain: God does not want it to know. Even if there are many signs, many prophecies, and many facts pointing to this event, indicating and foretelling its occurrence, as long as God does not wish it to know, Satan will never know. This is a fact. God will tell it directly when He wants it to know. If God does not tell it and doesn’t speak of it, even if these facts and prophetic things appear, God can blind it, and it won’t be able to know it. Is Satan’s capability great? Looking at it this way, it’s not. When it comes to such a significant act as God’s incarnation, whether in the human world, the material world, or the spiritual realm, wouldn’t there be some signs of it? If all these signs were looked at collectively, it would be easy to see this act that God intended to carry out. So why doesn’t Satan know about it? Why, after so many years of God working in the nation of the great red dragon, doesn’t it understand the importance of this act which God has carried out? By the time it realizes, this act has already been accomplished, Satan can’t interfere with it, and the results and fruits of this act have already been set. By then, isn’t it a bit too late for Satan to discover the truth? Doesn’t this fulfill the saying “Satan will always be a defeated foe in God’s hands”? That’s exactly the case. Antichrists mistakenly believe that as long as God’s words do not accord with human notions or tastes, they can disclaim them and then God ceases to be God. They think God’s incarnation cannot achieve anything significant, nor can it become a fact. Isn’t this a grave mistake? They have miscalculated and fallen into their own trap. Why have they fallen into their own trap? The way God speaks and works to save people is precisely by using these inconspicuous words that don’t accord with human notions or seem grand. It is precisely the implicit content of these unassuming words that contains God’s intentions, the truth, the way, and life. These words are sufficient to save this corrupt humankind and accomplish God’s management plan. Meanwhile, those who condemn these ordinary words will be eliminated, condemned, and ultimately punished. They mistakenly think, “I won’t accept these words of yours, I don’t value them! Your words don’t accord with my notions, they don’t align with my notions, viewpoints, or way of thinking, so I can reject them, I can resist and condemn them, and then you won’t accomplish anything!” They are wrong. Antichrists not accepting these words of God is them falling into their own trap; God never intended for them to accept, and why is that? Because they belong to Satan, to devils. God never planned to save them or change them; that’s the fact. So, what is the ultimate fact? Antichrists, by disclaiming, condemning, and rejecting God’s words, are condemned and spurned by God. What should you understand from this? God’s words not according with human notions and imaginings is not a reason for you not to accept them. God’s words having parts that don’t accord with your notions doesn’t mean they aren’t the truth, and that’s not a reason for you to deny them. On the contrary, the more God’s words don’t accord with your notions, the more you should set aside your notions to seek the truth. The more God’s words don’t accord with your notions, the more they represent what you don’t have, what you lack, what you need to replenish, and especially what you need to seek to change and enter into. This is what you should understand.
Antichrists consider themselves to be grand, great, and noble. If they are to read God’s words, they must choose the divine utterances, the words spoken by God from the third heaven, or read some profound words of God that are difficult for common and ordinary people to understand and thoroughly perceive. What they desire in God’s words is not the truth or a path to practice, but to satisfy their curiosity, their empty thoughts, and their ambitions and desires. So, if you see some people around you disregarding the more common and easily understood parts of God’s words, the words of God spoken from the perspective of humanity, or not even singing them when set to music, and rather looking at, listening to, or reading God’s words in a selective way instead, such people have a problem. Some might ask, “What kind of problem? Is it a problem with their thinking or a psychological problem?” It’s neither; such people have a problem with their disposition. Have you noticed that some people, when singing hymns of God’s words, don’t sing those related to truths about daily life, that they’re unwilling to sing hymns about knowing oneself, those exposing people’s corrupt dispositions, religious notions, and erroneous views of believing in God, as well as those in which God requires people to be honest? Particularly regarding the words and content of God’s incarnation, the hymns that testify for the humbleness and hiddenness of God, that praise and testify for God incarnate, they won’t sing a word of them, and they feel repulsed as soon as someone else starts singing them. But when they sing about testifying for and praising the God in heaven, the Spirit of God, about testifying for God’s righteous disposition, transcendence, deeds, administrative decrees, and wrath, they sing with great enthusiasm and even reveal an indescribable expression. When they sing such hymns, they become bizarre; their facial features contort, and their evil demeanor emerges. When singing about God’s righteous and majestic disposition, they pound the table and stomp their feet, reaching a degree of fury; when it’s about God’s wrath being unleashed and bringing great disasters upon all humankind, they sing with clenched teeth, their faces red and swollen. Isn’t there a problem with the spirit of such people? For instance, God says, “When I unleash great wrath, the nations will be shaken”; after setting this statement to a melody, it changes from the first person and becomes, “When God unleashes great wrath, the nations will be shaken” in the third person. The normal mentality is that these are God’s words, that this is understanding God’s disposition through singing His words, and understanding God’s disposition and the mentality and context of God speaking from a third-person, human perspective. This is the reason and reaction of normal humanity. But how do antichrists sing it? They don’t change the third person, but their mindset is different from that of normal people. When normal people sing “God,” they think, “These are God’s deeds, God’s words; this is what God says.” But what about when antichrists sing? Their mindset is, “This is what I have done, what I have said, the wrath I will unleash, the disposition I will reveal.” Isn’t this different? Although they don’t dare to openly sing in front of everyone “When I unleash great wrath, the nations will be shaken,” that’s how they sing it in their hearts. They think it’s themselves unleashing the wrath and causing the nations to be shaken, so they sing these words with genuine emotion. Doesn’t this indicate a problem within them? From the beginning to the end, the reason antichrists do not acknowledge God is because they want to be God. They want to establish themselves while denying God, making people believe they are God and acknowledge them as the God of humankind. That’s exactly what it is. Therefore, when reading a passage where God speaks in His divinity, people with the reason of normal humanity comprehend and pray-read it from a third-person perspective, pondering God’s intentions. Antichrists, however, are different. As they sing or read these words, they are experiencing the urge to express such a disposition, to live within such a disposition and essence themselves. They aim to replace God, attempting to imitate God’s speaking tone, manner, diction, and disposition within God’s utterances, the tone of His speech, all His expressions, and the dispositions He reveals. They are thoroughgoing antichrists. Because they cannot speak as God does, cannot express God’s disposition, and they fail at their imitation, when God speaks in His divinity, antichrists finally see their chance to imitate God and attempt to be God. God’s utterances from the perspective of His divinity provide antichrists with clues and direction, letting them know how God speaks, the tone He uses to address man, and the manner, perspective, and intonation He uses to address man. This is one of their goals in cherishing and worshiping God’s words uttered in His divinity. Therefore, in daily life, it’s often possible to see some people imitating God’s tone to lecture others under the pretext of being responsible for the work of God’s house or for the life of the brothers and sisters. They even quote God’s words verbatim to lecture, condemn, prune, and expose people. The purpose behind their actions, when examined from the root and context of many facts, is not genuinely out of loyalty, a sense of justice, or responsibility—instead, they attempt to do God’s work from God’s position and from God’s perspective, and aim to replace God. Some people say, “They never said they wanted to replace God.” There’s no need for them to say it; one can tell just by observing their actions’ essence, root, and motivation; it can be determined that this is the disturbance and methods of an antichrist. Regardless of the manifestation, wanting to be God, harboring this intent in any way—is that what a person with the reason of normal humanity should do? (No.) Can such a person be characterized as an antichrist based on this alone? (Yes.) This point alone is sufficient. No matter how great your stature, if you always want to be God, and are recklessly imitating God, demanding others to regard and treat you as God, such actions, behaviors, and dispositions constitute the essence of an antichrist. This point alone is enough to characterize one as an antichrist. It’s not an antichrist’s disposition, or a trace of an antichrist’s behavior, but a manifestation of having an antichrist’s essence.
Tell Me, which is more serious in nature: wanting to be God or having ambitions and desires to always seek status? (Wanting to be God.) People have ambitions, arrogant dispositions, and like to assert their status, sometimes enjoying the benefits this status begets, treasuring it—this is a corrupt disposition, and it can change. However, wanting to be God, imitating God’s speaking tone, imitating God’s way of speaking, and even quoting God’s words completely, reciting them verbatim to make others mistakenly think one can speak and act just like God, their tone and manner of speaking so similar to God’s, ultimately leading others to mistakenly believe they are God or just about the same as God, and even some treating them as God—that’s problematic; it’s an incurable issue, an irredeemable sickness. Is wanting to be God a trivial matter? God’s identity is determined by His essence. The essence and disposition of the flesh in which God is incarnate are not obtained through His personal efforts or cultivated by society, nations, humankind, or any individual, nor even cultivated by God Himself. Instead, God inherently possesses God’s essence. He doesn’t need human aid or cooperation, nor any environmental or temporal changes. God has His identity as God, so His essence has long since been predetermined; it is something innate. His ability to express the truth is not something He learned from humans, nor is it something that was cultivated by them either. Antichrists fail to perceive this matter thoroughly. Foolishly, they believe that if they can imitate God’s speaking tone and manner so well that people regard them as more God-like, then they qualify to be God. Moreover, by saying some empty, impractical, incomprehensible so-called “words of God” that leave people clueless and lost, they think people might consider them as God, and they might have the chance to become God. Isn’t this a dangerous matter?
The desire and ambition to become God are always stirring in the hearts of antichrists. While they disclaim and condemn God’s words, they also imitate His tone of speaking. What a despicable, wicked, shameless, and vile act! They are obsessed and deranged with the desire to be God. Isn’t that disgusting? (Yes.) Do any of you harbor a desire to be God? Whoever wants to be God will be condemned! Whoever wants to be God will perish! This is a fact, not an exaggeration or an attempt to scare you. Don’t believe it? Try it. Think in that direction, then act on it, and see if you can bear it internally, see what it feels like inside. If inside you feel pleased, proud, and satisfied with such actions, then you’re no good, and you’re in danger. But if acting that way makes you feel self-reproach, guilty in conscience, too ashamed to face other people or God, then you have some conscience, some rationality of normal humanity. Many people aspire to be God. Without understanding what God’s incarnation is, without knowing the tone and manner of God’s speech, without grasping this information, they might be interested in the idea and have ambitions and plans, but not knowing how to proceed, they dare not act recklessly. At most, they pretend to be spiritual, to be saved, holy, or eligible for salvation. However, once they acquire some information about God, their ambitions begin to sprout, and they start to act. What do they do? A clear manifestation is that they read more of the profound and unfathomable words spoken by God. In these words, they familiarize themselves with the attitude, manner, tone, and diction of God’s speech, and then they attempt to imitate these, studying them deeply. The more familiar the better, to the point where they can sense the tone and manner of God’s speech even with their eyes closed. They earnestly memorize these, and simultaneously practice and rehearse among people, imitating this style, manner, tone, and diction in their speech, and then deeply experiencing whether acting and speaking this way gives them a feeling of being God. As they become more familiar and skilled with the practice, they unknowingly place themselves in God’s position. Suddenly, one day, someone says, “The feeling and tone of their speech seem close to God’s. Speaking with them feels like being with God; their words have the flavor of God’s speech.” After inadvertently hearing such remarks, their hearts fill with boundless satisfaction, feeling that they have finally achieved their wish, finally become God. Aren’t they done for now? Why choose the path of destruction when there are other paths to walk? Isn’t this seeking death? Even harboring such thoughts is dangerous—turning these thoughts into actions is even more so. If one’s actions spiral out of control and they follow this direction to the end, determined to succeed in it and make it a reality, then they become a target of complete destruction. Some antichrists are actually working and striving in this direction. Have you seen or come into contact with such people? (When I was in mainland China, I met someone who imitated God’s tone of speech and often harbored the thought of being God. At that time, two or three people regarded her as God, and one person even knelt and prostrated before her when he saw her.) No matter to what extent a person tries to be God, it’s a dead-end road. Have you seen through this? The expressions and provisions of all of God’s words for humankind are meant to help people understand God’s intentions and thus achieve salvation. If people mistakenly believe that since God has expressed these messages, they should glean from them the details of becoming God and thus pursue being God, imitating God, and becoming God, then it’s over for them. This is the path to destruction; you must never imitate this. Some people say, “It’s a bit difficult not to imitate god. Every time I hear god speak, I think how dignified and imposing it sounds to speak from god’s identity. Why does it sound so pleasant and captivating? Why do I think it must feel so good to be god when god speaks? It sounds so different when the person with god’s identity speaks.” Thus, unconsciously, they start to mimic some of God’s tone and diction. Although, in their subjective desires, they might not want to be God or become God so explicitly, what is their imitation rooted in? Is it because they cherish the truth and God’s words? (No.) Then what is it? (It stems from the motive of wanting to be God.) If I didn’t have this identity or status and said these words, would anyone imitate Me? No one would bother with Me, no one would think highly of Me; isn’t that the fact? When I didn’t have this identity and status, I also talked and fellowshipped with people. Who took Me seriously then? As soon as they saw that I was young, lacking in advanced education or qualifications, and without any social status, nobody from My own church or any other churches, nor any of the people doing their duties and interacting with Me, really took Me seriously. Even if I spoke correctly or sincerely, no one paid attention. Why? Without identity or status, you lack presence; whatever you say doesn’t matter, even if it’s correct or the truth. It might even be that people deny whatever you say, claiming it’s all wrong. Then, would anyone imitate you? A very average and ordinary person, without identity or status—who would bother to imitate you? In people’s eyes, such a person lacks presence and isn’t worth admiring; you’re lucky if they don’t bully you. What would be the use of imitating you? Would they imitate you just so others could look down on, bully, and discriminate them? Who do people imitate? They imitate those who, in their eyes, have presence and grandeur, those with status and identity. People imitate these individuals. Why does the same person, once they acquire a certain identity and status, seem different in the eyes of others when they say the same things? How do they suddenly appear to have presence and be worth imitating? What are people really imitating? What they accept, mimic, and adore isn’t the truth or positive things, but rather the external grandeur, the superficial status. Isn’t that the case? If I had no identity or status, no matter how much I spoke in line with the truth or how many spiritual words I spoke, could those words be spread among you? No; no one would bother with it. But once I have My identity and status, some of the words I often say, My colloquialisms, My diction, My manner and style of speaking—many people start to imitate these. It makes Me disgusted to hear this. How disgusted? I feel like vomiting when I hear it. I am disgusted by whoever imitates Me, I am sickened by whoever imitates Me, even to the point of condemning them! What is the intention and goal behind people imitating these things? It’s to mimic the tone of God’s speech, to get a taste of what it feels like to be God; isn’t that the fact? It’s about wanting status, wanting to speak from a position of status, speaking and acting with the tone and manner of someone with identity and status, to appear as though they too have status, identity, and worth—isn’t that all it is? If you imitate an ordinary person, it’s not much of an issue; at most it’s just an arrogant disposition. But if you imitate God’s tone and manner of speaking, that’s where the trouble starts. Let Me tell you, you’ll be stepping on a landmine.
In God’s words, there is a phrase: God is a God who abhors evil. What does “abhorring evil” refer to? God’s identity and status are unique. God’s holiness, righteousness, authority, and love are attributes that no created or non-created being possesses; to try to imitate these is blasphemy. Since you don’t possess these attributes, why would you attempt to imitate them? Since you don’t possess them, why would you try to be God? In imitating, are you not harboring the intention to be God, to become God? Or is it because you adore God, because you envy His loveliness and essence, that you imitate Him? Absolutely not; you lack the character and stature for it. You just want to satisfy a craving to be God, to gain people’s admiration and respect, and receive treatment like God among people. Isn’t this a shameful act? It’s utterly disgraceful! Imitation in itself is repugnant, and aspiring to be God is not just disgusting; it’s condemnable. Therefore, today I solemnly tell you that no matter what I have said, no matter what I have done, no matter what I say or do that arouses reverence, envy, or jealousy in your hearts, there’s one thing you must remember: Never imitate Me. You must let go of the intention to imitate, you must rebel against the mentality of imitation, and avoid offending God’s disposition. This is a grave matter! A corrupt human, taking God’s tone of speech, manner of speaking, and disposition as a trifling matter to pay lip service to, to arbitrarily manipulate and play with, is detestable to God. If you do so, then you are offending God’s disposition—never do this! Even if I can’t hear you imitating the speaking manner and tone of God incarnate, merely knowing you have such a disposition and such thoughts makes Me utterly disgusted. If you imitate the tone of the Spirit of God, intending to address all of humankind or the public, aren’t you seeking death? This is something everyone should be vigilant about; never do this! Some people used to ask, “What does it mean to offend God’s disposition?” Today, I’ll tell you one thing: Imitating God’s tone and manner of speech, as well as a series of things related to God’s identity and status, whether external or internal, all constitute an offense against God’s disposition. You must absolutely remember this and never commit this offense! If you do commit this offense and can promptly correct, rebel against, and transform yourself, then there’s still hope. However, if you persistently continue down this path, you’ll be characterized as an antichrist, and let Me tell you the truth: In God’s eyes, there’ll be no room for turning around then—you will be utterly finished. Remember, God is a God who abhors evil. You must treat every aspect related to God’s identity and essence with the utmost caution and not take it lightly. If God’s manner of speaking and tone are expressed from the mouth of a corrupt human, it is an immense humiliation and blasphemy against God, something God absolutely cannot tolerate. Humans must never, ever commit this offense. Do you understand? If you commit this offense, you die! If you don’t listen and don’t believe Me, try it, and when you really bring disaster upon yourself, don’t blame Me for not telling you.
August 15, 2020