130-A-5

Today I’ve fellowshiped about some truths of the vision, directed toward new believers. Now, open the book Christ Is the Truth, the Way, and the Life. Let’s read two passages of God’s words.

“634: All those who cannot accept God’s work and meet God’s demands live under the influence of darkness. Only those who pursue the truth and can satisfy God’s demands have God’s blessing and have thrown off the influence of darkness. (from ‘Those Who Throw Off the Influence of Darkness Can Be Gained by God’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh)

“635: The basis of mankind throwing off the influence of darkness is My words. And anyone who cannot act according to My words will not be able to throw off the bonds of the influence of darkness. Living in the correct condition is a life of being led by the words of God, it is living in the condition of devotion to God and of seeking the truth, living in the reality of genuinely expending yourself for God, and in the condition of genuinely loving God. People who live in this condition and reality will gradually change along with the deepening of the truth, along with the deepening of the work. Eventually they will be able to be gained by God, to become persons who genuinely love God. (from ‘Those Who Throw Off the Influence of Darkness Can Be Gained by God’ in The Word Appears in the Flesh)”

The words of God in these two passages are crucial. We can be certain that without truth, there is no way for people to live in the light of God. Without truth, people do not know God, and all who are without truth are people who live under Satan’s influence. This is fact. So many religious people say, “We believe in the Lord Jesus and we abide by the Bible. How can it be that we are not people living in God’s presence? How can we be people living under Satan’s dominion?” What is wrong with what they say? It is difficult for a new believer to recognize the depth of the truth in this matter. He or she thinks that abiding by the Bible is throwing off Satan’s influence. He or she thinks that if they abide by the Bible they are living in the light, as people commended by God. Does the Bible represent God? The Bible is only dead sentences. If you live within dead sentences, does this represent that you have truth? Can this represent that you have been gained by God? Can it represent that you know God? Religious people may acknowledge that it cannot represent knowing God, otherwise the Pharisees would not have been the people to resist God and would not have condemned the Lord Jesus. No one understood the Bible better than the Pharisees, and only they understood the Old Testament. They understood the Old Testament so well, but finally God revealed them with a fact. When God was incarnated to bring redemption, they did their utmost to condemn the Lord Jesus, not stopping until He was put to death. They would rather free a criminal and have the Lord Jesus nailed to death on a cross. This is what people who understood the Bible did. Therefore I say, all who believe that they understand the Bible are people who outright resist God and oppose Him. Can you accept saying something like this? These words are difficult to accept, and such words can take months, even a year, to understand. Someone who is simple, has some caliber, and is earnest does understand, understands well, but those who know the Bible cannot accept that statement and won’t obey. Once I say this, even though he does not say so, in his mind he resists, and someday he will deliver a grand talk to rebuke me. It is not easy to accept truth, is it? Although you well know that what I have given you to read are God’s words, not mine, could you go so far as to say that once a person has read the words of God, that person is filled with reverence toward God and is able to submit to Him? Is there anyone who can say, even though I have my notions, even though I do not acknowledge or accept these words, because I revere God therefore I am not judging or rejecting God’s words? No, there is no one. Why not? You cannot speak clearly. So when it comes to the reality of truth, the recognition of truth, and what involves people’s notions, how can you remain mute? Why won’t you speak clearly? This involves truth. Truth is difficult to understand, and the essence of truth is difficult to understand, but dead letters are easy to understand, is that right? All those who cannot accept the work of God and cannot meet God’s demands live under the influence of darkness. Are these God’s words? If these are God’s words, then we unhesitatingly affirm this is the truth, this is the voice of God, and these are the words that the Lord of creation, the one true God, has spoken to us. So how will you respond? Can you still be arrogant and self-right? Can you really reject the words of God because you have your own notions? In that case, are you someone who reveres God? Are you really a devout person? Are you a person who loves the truth? In this moment all is revealed. These words are the truth, whether you accept them or not they are the truth. If you do not acknowledge them today, they are still the truth, and after ten years if you still have not acknowledged them, they are still the truth. Finally there will be a day when God turns these words into fact, and you see many people descend into hell. Why? All those who have not accepted the work of God or met God’s demands descend into hell. Waiting until that day to acknowledge God amounts to failing to repent until faced with your own coffin! God’s word will accomplish all. Do you believe in His almightiness?

At present many scholars of exegesis see that what prophets in the Old Testament era foretold is coming true, and coming true perfectly: the appearance of the four blood moons has come true; the destruction of Damascus has come true; and Armageddon is imminent, followed immediately by disasters bringing on the end of the world. Seeing how perfectly the words of God are coming true, “Oh, only now do we recognize that God is truly almighty, and that his every word will come true. Just as the Lord Jesus said, ‘Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away’” (Matthew 24:35). People acknowledge that Jesus spoke these words, and that they absolutely must come true. Those two passages that we read before are also what the Spirit of the Lord Jesus spoke, what God has spoken, and they too must come true. Do you believe this? Some people will say, “I believed in the Lord Jesus, I have been forgiven my sins, and this time I accept Almighty God, the second coming of the Lord Jesus, so I am confident I will enter the kingdom of heaven, there is hope of entering it. It will become reality.” Is what they say true? Where is the flaw in it? Such a person has not thrown off the influence of Satan, has not pursued the truth or gained the truth, and so will still be destroyed. Are there people who believe in Almighty God who are just passing themselves off as Christians? Are there fake followers, fake apostles, and fake workers? There are. Over these past ten or fifteen years the house of God has expelled between three hundred and five hundred thousand antichrists, wicked people, and evil spirits. When they have been expelled, some have said, “Even though you have expelled me, I will still follow my beliefs and I will still make offerings! God has not expelled me!” If you follow your belief, perhaps you genuinely repent, and that may all be well, but God has said, “The basis of mankind throwing off the influence of darkness is My words, and anyone who cannot act according to My words will not be able to throw off the bonds of the influence of darkness.” These are God’s words; they are the truth. Ultimately, when the time comes that He has fixed for the end of humanity, these words will be fulfilled. Do you imagine it will be so easy to enter the kingdom of heaven? Once the Lord Jesus comes, and you accept Him, will you ascend into the sky to meet the Lord, and then become those chosen for the kingdom of heaven? That is a dream. The genuine reality is accepting the judgment before the seat of Christ here on earth and gaining purification before finally being able to understand the truth and coming to know God, and through changes in life disposition, no longer having notions of God’s work, no matter what it may be, but only obeying, only worshiping, and only prostrating oneself before Him. To be gained by God is just this. Can your experience now measure up to this? If I were to say something that offends you, if I were to insult you, would you disagree? For you to object to my insulting you is unacceptable. You may say, “What you said is not an insult; it is the truth. I don’t take it as an insult. I accept it as truthful and submit to it.” If you say this, people respect you, they marvel at it! You are genuinely a person with the truth, one who is truly obedient to God. Can you say such a thing now? You can’t say it. So do not undergo judgment before the seat of Christ based on some personal notions and imaginations. “I will obey the word of God, I will accept whatever God says, and I will obey whatever God says. No matter what God’s judgment of me is, whether condemnation or even to be cursed, I will accept it and submit to it. Even if I shall die in hell, I will not complain, nor will I feel resentment, I must praise God still, praise God, who is righteous.” Can you bear witness this way? Is bearing witness this way easy? Do you know what is the most difficult part of bearing witness this way? If you can say clearly what is the most difficult part, then you truly know yourself. Is it easy to know yourself? There are people who will say, “I am the devil, I am Satan.” Then I say, “You are not human, you have no conscience, and you are an animal.” But he refuses this: “I can’t accept it when you say I am an animal. I am no better than Satan the devil. It is all right if I say it, but when you say I am Satan the devil I resent it, I hate you!” What sort of person is this? Does a person like this know himself? No. Why do I say that? Didn’t he say himself that he is Satan the devil? He knows that so well, how is it that he still does not know himself? How can we discern this? When it comes to practical experience, people have so many difficulties that they cannot understand. How is genuine obedience produced? One has to go through judgment and chastisement to know God’s righteous disposition. Only then does he have a mind that fears God, being sincerely convinced of God. Only acknowledging that every word of God is truth can be called being sincerely convinced.

Tell me, what is the effect that we ultimately accomplish by experiencing judgment and chastisement before the seat of Christ? What is the word for the effect that is ultimately accomplished? That word is “conquest”: conquering humanity with truth, conquering humanity with fact. You are not convinced that this is the truth, right? God says, “Very well, I will put you through a trial. I will make you undergo Satan’s temptation, send you down there and let you fall, and fall hard. Then, when you crawl back up, will you understand the word of God? Will you admit that Satan’s nature is in yourselves and that you are one of a kind with Satan?” What is this process called? It is a process of judging, and a process of conquering, as well as a process of purifying, and even more a process of perfecting. Is that how we should understand this? So in undergoing judgment before the seat of Christ, which of these three steps have you accomplished—conquest, purification, or perfection? You have not even accomplished being conquered! You still can come up with your notions, you are still in conflict, resisting. You cannot even keep going, really. You feel humiliated, and you want to get away. Is this a person who has been conquered? A person who has been conquered does not run away, but accepts God’s orchestration and works hard to carry out all duties without complaint, and in the end says, “I will do service for God all my life, and even if I gain nothing I will not resent God, for God is supremely righteous.” If you submit to God to this extent, it may be said you have been gained by God; you are one of God’s people. If you have not been conquered to this extent, then you still have not gone through experience that is deep enough. If you have not experienced deeply enough, are you still disobedient, could you still betray Him? It is not certain! If your experience is not deep enough, would you go so far as to say you are one of God’s people? You yourself would not dare guarantee what you might say in resentment when faced with a trial or whether you could betray God if you are tested. Therefore, I say the work of judgment before the seat of Christ is without precedent in history! It is a step in the greatest work of God in the human world in the last era of this corrupt humankind, to thoroughly conquer, save, and perfect humankind. So will you say that the significance of experiencing judgment before the seat of Christ is profound? Is its significance of great weight? So I say, the work of judgment during the last days is something that God does only once among humankind, and is a singularly unique opportunity to perfect people. The saints down through the ages never experienced this work. We who have been born in the last days have experienced judgment before the seat of Christ. This is feasting with God, attending the feast of the Lamb. Those who after going together to this feast become one household, gained by God to be in God’s household, who will be the people of the kingdom of heaven, the people of God’s kingdom. Do you know what is written at the end of the prophecies of the book of Revelation? Most of those believers who have read Revelation know that at the end of the prophecies of Revelation, the kingdom of Christ appears on earth. When the kingdom of Christ appears, the tabernacle of God will be among humankind, and then humankind will enter a glorious destination. That will be the fact that God’s management plan finally achieves. Those who have believed in the Lord have committed the Lord’s Prayer to memory. How does it go? “Our Father which are in heaven, Hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:9-10). This passage is of such great importance, it is how the Lord Jesus called on people to pray. When will these words be fulfilled and become reality? When Almighty God comes, He comes to fulfill these words.