130-B-5

You believe in the Lord, but you have none of the truth, and you proclaim yourself as though you were more holy and virtuous than anyone. This is self-idolization. This is hypocrisy. And if today many people saw those pious Christians sent to hell, do you imagine they would have complaints against the Lord? They would be full of complaints! They would be full of hate! They would think, “Lord, you sent them to hell! You made them suffer so much. You are too cruel. I’m through believing in you!” Such a man harbors an evil disbelieving heart! Is that not so? Where, exactly, is this person’s mistake? He may have grown two eyes in his head, but can he see the essence of the problem? Then why is he so confident? Whenever he sees a believer in religion enthusiastically perform a virtuous deed, he says, “How strong is his love for the Lord!” Whenever he sees a believer in religion carry water or sweep the yard for widows or cook for orphans, he says, “How holy he is!” Do you have any concept of holiness? Do you have any concept of virtue? You call yourself holy, but are you more holy than the Lord? You call yourself virtuous, but are you more virtuous than the Lord? When you speak those words, are you not resisting the Lord? You are resisting the Lord. There are hypocrites in the church who, when you testify God, immediately go wide-eyed with rage and become devils. But if you don’t testify God, they sit and smile benevolently, as though they were virtuous. Where is their virtue? Hypocrites! They have no penetration into the issue, and still they blindly judge. Who loves the Lord? Is there a single man in the entire religious world who truly loves the Lord? Is there a single member of the human race who truly loves the Lord? If you don’t understand what it means to love the Lord, don’t go around using the notions and imaginings of man to place such laurels on the heads of this or that person, and then finally put them on your own. What authority do you have? Do you know what holiness is? Do you know what it means to love the Lord? Merely doing good deeds is love for the Lord? A nonsensical, out-of-context theory! What does it mean to truly love the Lord? It means that one experiences God’s judgment and chastisement, has a real understanding of God’s disposition, and in the end, sees that all of God’s work is the work of love and salvation, be it judgment, chastisement, pruning, or dealing, the final result of which is the purification and perfection of man. The moment he reaches this understanding, the moment his experience reaches this level, he comes to see that there are innumerable aspects of God to love, too many to count. In many of God’s works man only sees His righteous disposition, His majesty, and His wrath, but these things all benefit man in the end. They suffer now, but after their suffering these people will see that God’s love is so great and so real, and love for God will be born in their hearts. Once that happens, what do these people say? “I was too rebellious against God in the past, I was blind, I didn’t know God! None of what I said in the past was practical, it was all based on the notions and imaginings of man, there was nothing of the truth in it, I looked at people and things without principle, my viewpoints were all wrong. I followed the viewpoints of the unbelievers and the popular sayings in religion, but they are incompatible with the reality of truth. They go against principle and the will of the Lord!” When a man can say these words, he is truly purified. His viewpoints are in line with God’s, and the way he evaluates people is in line with God’s, because he looks beyond people’s outward behavior and examines their intentions and motivations. Finally, if we look at him, we see that he has a heart which truly loves the Lord, and that he considers the Lord’s will in all things. His will is one with the Lord’s. This is what it means to love God! Based on outward behavior, to place laurels upon another’s head, to claim that this or that man loves the Lord, is obedient to God, or is virtuous, is utter nonsense. Do you not fear such words will offend the Lord? Are you the Lord of Creation? Are you the Creator of man? Can you see through to the essence of man? You are being arrogant, self-conceited and self-right. You do not understand the truth, and your words are worse than nonsense. Is this not the case?

I tell you, when I first accepted God’s work in the last days and read God’s words of judgment and chastisement, I realized that the things of religion and the notions and imaginings of man in me were the same as those in you. You have them, and so did I. I had as much of them in me as you have. But over these years, through reading God’s word and fellowshiping the truth, through performing my duties, and enlightenment and illumination from the Holy Spirit, I finally gained the penetration to comprehend this issue. And so, changes began to occur in my views. They became different from those of religious men, completely different. I was not born possessing the words I fellowship to you today, do you understand? Tell me, if you believe for eight years or a decade, can you be purified from these human notions and imaginings, out-of-context sayings, and careless judgments? Surely you can. I am living proof that you can. I have been purified, and all you need to do is believe the way I believe, accept God’s words, practice and experience God’s words, and pray for and seek the truth, and finally, you can be as I am. You can hear that my words are different from those of religious men. The views of the theologians, scholars, pastors, and elders in religion are all mistaken. They have never experienced God’s work. In men of their stature, the viewpoints, self-rightness, and imaginings of man are too deep-rooted. Nothing can conquer man but the words of God. That is the case.

So, when you finish reading God’s words, don’t say believing in God is difficult, because it isn’t! It appears difficult to man, but it’s not difficult at all for God. God will perfect you, and the Holy Spirit will be with you, enlighten and illuminate you, and then it won’t be difficult for you. A year of experiencing God’s work will bring you a year of benefit, two years will double it; after three to five years of performing your duties, you will understand many truths and be very different; and after eight to ten years of performing your duties, you will have knowledge of God. A decade of faith in Almighty God will gain you more than a century of faith in religion. Do you believe that? There was a man who believed in religion for more than twenty years, but after he listened to me for three hours, he said, “I gained more from a little of your fellowship than I gained in twenty years of faith!” What he spent more than twenty years trying and failing to understand, what he lacked for more than twenty years, I made clear to him in just a moment. Do you think that was easy? Some say, “But I am old, the great disaster is about to befall, and my time is short, will this little time give me the experience I need? Can I still be made complete by God?” Can he? He said, “You’ve believed for more than thirty years, but I’ve only just found my faith!” The Lord Jesus once told a parable, in which He gave some who worked for seven hours and others who worked for only an hour the same wages. I may do the equivalent of seven hours of work while you do the equivalent of one, but in the end the reward we receive is the same. This makes some people jealous, who say, “Lord, you are too unfair!” What does Jesus say to this? “The silver I gave to him incurs no debt to you on my part, I’ve given you plenty. Also, how dare you be angry at me for being a good person!” This puts Satan to shame. That’s what this parable means.