Bible Verses for Reference:

“When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies in them; for his iniquity that he has done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die” (Ezekiel 18:26–28).

“And the word of Jehovah came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the preaching that I bid you. So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Jehovah. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God: yes, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do to them; and He did it not” (Jonah 3:1–10).

Relevant Words of God:

The purpose of God’s work on man is to enable them to satisfy God’s intentions, and it is done to bring them salvation. Therefore, during the time of His salvation of man, He does not do the work of punishing them. While bringing salvation to man, God does not punish evil or reward good, nor does He reveal the destinations of various kinds of people. Rather, only after the final stage of His work is complete will He do the work of punishing evil and rewarding good, and only then will He reveal the ends of all the different sorts of people. Those who are punished will be those who are actually unable to be saved, while those who are saved will be those who have obtained God’s salvation during the time of His salvation of man. While God’s work of salvation is being done, every single person who can be saved will be saved as far as possible, and none of them discarded, for the purpose of God’s work is to save man. All those who, during the time of God’s salvation of man, are unable to achieve a change in their disposition—as well as all those who are unable to submit to God completely—will become objects for punishment. This stage of work—the work of words—will unlock for people all of the ways and mysteries that they do not understand, so that they can understand the intentions of God and God’s requirements of them, and so that they can have the prerequisites to put God’s words into practice and achieve changes in their disposition. God uses only words to do His work and does not punish people for being a little rebellious; this is because now is the time of the work of salvation. If anyone who acts rebelliously were punished, then no one would have the opportunity to be saved; everyone would be punished and fall into Hades. The purpose of words that judge man is to allow them to know themselves and submit to God; it is not to punish them with such judgment. During the time of the work of words, many people will expose their rebelliousness and defiance, as well as their lack of submission toward the incarnate God. Nevertheless, He will not punish all these people as a result, but instead will only cast aside those who are corrupt to the core and who cannot be saved. He will give their flesh to Satan, and, in a few cases, terminate their flesh. Those remaining will continue to follow and experience being pruned. If, while following, these people still are unable to accept being pruned, and become more and more degenerate, then they will have lost their chance for salvation. Each person who has accepted being conquered by God’s words will have ample opportunity for salvation; God’s salvation of each of these people will show His utmost leniency. In other words, they will be shown the utmost tolerance. As long as people turn back from the wrong path, and as long as they can repent, God will give them opportunities to obtain His salvation. When humans first rebel against God, He has no desire to put them to death; rather, He does all He can to save them. If someone really has no room for salvation, then God will cast them aside. The reason God is slow to punish certain people is that He wishes to save everyone who can be saved. He judges, enlightens, and guides people only with words, and does not use a rod to put them to death. Employing words to bring humans salvation is the purpose and significance of the final stage of work.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Should Put Aside the Blessings of Status and Understand God’s Intention to Bring Salvation to Man

“Blasphemy and slander against God is a sin that will not be forgiven in this life or the world to come, and those who commit this sin will never be reincarnated.” This means that God’s disposition does not tolerate being offended by man. It is certain beyond doubt that blasphemy and slander against God will not be forgiven in this life or the world to come. Blasphemy against God, whether or not it is intentional, is something that offends God’s disposition, and speaking blasphemous words against God, no matter the reason, will certainly be condemned. However, some people speak condemnable, blasphemous words in situations where they do not understand this, or in which they have been misled, controlled, and suppressed by others. After they say these words, they feel uneasy, they feel that they have been accused, and they are very remorseful. After this, they prepare enough good deeds while gaining knowledge and changing in this, and God therefore no longer remembers their previous transgressions. You must know God’s words precisely and not arbitrarily apply them according to your notions and imaginings. You must understand at whom His words are targeted, and in what context He is speaking. You must not arbitrarily apply or casually define God’s words. People who do not know how to experience do not reflect on themselves about anything, and they do not hold themselves up against God’s words, while those who have had some experiences and insight are prone to be oversensitive, holding themselves up against God’s words arbitrarily when they read His curses or His detesting and eliminating people. These people do not understand God’s words, and always misread Him. Some people did not read God’s current words or investigate His current work, let alone gain the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. They spoke in judgment of God, and then someone spread the gospel to them, which they accepted. After this, they regret what they did and are willing to repent, in which case we will see what their behaviors and manifestations are like going forward. If their behavior is especially poor after they start believing, and they add insult to injury by thinking, “Well, I already spoke blasphemous, slanderous and judgmental words toward God, and if God condemns these kinds of people, then my pursuits are useless,” then they are completely done for. They have abandoned themselves to despair and dug their own grave.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three

Some people, when they’ve transgressed a bit, conjecture: “Has God revealed and eliminated me? Will He strike me down?” God has come to work this time not in order to strike people down, but to save them, to the greatest possible extent. No one is without error—if everyone were struck down, would that be salvation? Some transgressions are done on purpose, while others are involuntary. If you are able to change after you recognize the things you do involuntarily, would God strike you down before you do so? Would God save people that way? That’s not how He works! Regardless of whether you have a rebellious disposition or whether you have acted involuntarily, remember this: You should reflect and know yourself. Turn yourself around, right away, and strive for the truth with all your strength—and, no matter what circumstances come about, do not give yourself over to despair. The work God is doing is that of man’s salvation, and He will not casually strike down the people He wants to save. This is certain. Even if there really were a believer in God whom He struck down in the end, that which God does would still be guaranteed to be righteous. In time, He would let you know the reason He struck that person down, so that you would be utterly convinced. Right now, just strive for the truth, focus on life entry, and pursue the good performance of your duty. There is no mistake in this! No matter how God handles you in the end, it is guaranteed to be righteous; you should not doubt this, and you do not need to worry. Even if you cannot understand God’s righteousness at the moment, there will come a day when you will be convinced. God works justly and honorably; He openly reveals everything. If you mull this over carefully, you will come to the heartfelt conclusion that God’s work is that of saving people and transforming their corrupt dispositions. Given that God’s work is that of transforming people’s corrupt dispositions, it is impossible that people do not have revelations of corruption. It is only in those revelations of corrupt disposition that people can know themselves, and admit that they have a corrupt disposition, and be willing to receive God’s salvation. If people accept no truth at all after having revealed a corrupt disposition, and continue living by their corrupt disposition, they will then be liable to offend God’s disposition. God will visit varying degrees of retribution on them, and they will pay the price for their transgressions. …

As previously mentioned, events of the past can be wiped clean at a stroke; the future can be made to supersede the past; God’s tolerance is as boundless as the sea. Yet there are also principles to these words. It is not the case that God will wipe clean any sin you have committed, no matter how great. God does all His work with principles. In the past, an administrative decree was set that addresses this issue: God forgives and pardons all sins one commits before accepting His name. But for those who continue to sin after having come to believe in Him, it’s a different story: One who repeats a sin once is given the chance to repent, while those who repeat it twice or refuse to change in spite of repeated reprimands are expelled, without further chance to repent. God is always tolerant with people to the greatest extent possible in His work. In this, it can be seen that God’s work is truly the work of saving people. However, if, in this final stage of work, you would yet commit unpardonable sins, then you are truly irredeemable, and you cannot be rescued.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three

Many are those who oppose God, but among them there are also many different ways in which they oppose God. As there are all manner of believers, so too are there all manner of those who oppose God, each unlike the other. Not a single one of those who fail to recognize clearly the purpose of God’s work can be saved. Regardless of how man may have opposed God in the past, when man comes to understand the purpose of God’s work and dedicates his efforts to satisfying God, God will wipe clean all of his former sins. As long as man seeks the truth and practices the truth, God will not keep in mind what he has done. Moreover, it is on the basis of man’s practice of the truth that God justifies him. This is the righteousness of God. Before man has seen God or experienced His work, regardless of how man acts toward God, He does not keep it in mind. However, once man has seen God and experienced His work, all the deeds and actions of man will be entered by God into the “annals,” for man has seen God and lived amid His work.

When man has truly seen what God has and is, when he has seen His supremacy, and when he has truly come to know the work of God, and furthermore, when the old disposition of man is changed, then man will have completely cast away his rebellious disposition that opposes God. It can be said that everyone has at some time opposed God and everyone has at some time rebelled against God. However, if you willingly submit to the incarnate God, and from this point satisfy God’s heart with your loyalty, practice the truth that you ought, perform your duty as you ought, and keep the regulations that you ought, then you are one who is willing to cast away your rebelliousness to satisfy God and one who can be perfected by God. Should you stubbornly refuse to see your errors and have no intention of repenting yourself, should you persist in your rebellious conduct without the least intention of cooperating with God and satisfying Him, then such an obstinate and incorrigible person as you will certainly be punished and will certainly never be one to be perfected by God. This being so, you are the enemy of God today and tomorrow you will also be the enemy of God, and so too will you remain the enemy of God the day after; you will forever be an opponent of God and the enemy of God. In that case, how could God possibly let you off?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. All People Who Do Not Know God Are People Who Oppose God

As long as you have a shred of hope now, then whether or not God remembers your past transgressions, what mentality should you maintain? “I must pursue a change in my disposition, pursue knowledge of God, never again be fooled by Satan, and never again do anything that would bring shame to God’s name.” People now are so profoundly corrupted and lack any worth. What key areas determine whether they can be saved and whether they have any hope? The key is, after listening to a sermon, whether or not you can comprehend the truth, whether or not you can put the truth into practice, and whether or not you can change. These are the key areas. If you only feel remorse, and when it comes time to do things you just do whatever you want, in the same old ways, not only not seeking the truth, still clinging to old views, methods, and regulations, and not only not reflecting on and trying to know yourself, but instead getting worse and worse, and still insisting on walking your old path, then you will be without hope, and should be written off. With greater knowledge of God and deeper knowledge of yourself, you will be better able to stop yourself from committing evil and sinning. The more thorough your knowledge of your nature, the better you can protect yourself, and after summarizing your experiences and lessons, you won’t fail again. In actual fact, everyone has some blemishes; it is just that God doesn’t hold them accountable for these. Everyone has them, it is just a matter of degree; some can be spoken of, others cannot. Some people do things that others know about, while some people do things without anyone knowing about it. Everyone has transgressions and blemishes in them, and they all reveal certain corrupt dispositions, like arrogance or self-righteousness; they have all had some deviations in their work or occasionally been rebellious. These are all understandable; they are unavoidable for corrupt mankind. But once people understand the truth, they should be able to avoid this and transgress no more; there’s no need for them to be troubled by past transgressions anymore. What’s key is whether people repent, whether they have truly changed. Those who repent and change are the ones who are saved, while those who remain unrepentant and unchanged throughout must be eliminated. If, after understanding the truth, people still knowingly transgress, if they are steadfastly unrepentant, utterly unchanged, no matter how they are pruned or warned, then such people are beyond salvation.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three

To follow the practical God, we must have this resolve: No matter how great the environments we encounter, nor what kind of difficulties we face, and no matter how weak or negative we are, we cannot lose faith in our dispositional change or in the words that God has spoken. God has made a promise to mankind, and this requires people to have resolve, faith, and perseverance to bear it. God does not like cowards; He likes people with resolve. Even if you’ve revealed a lot of corruption, even if you’ve taken the wrong path many times, or committed many transgressions, complained about God, or from within religion resisted God or harbored blasphemy against Him in your heart, and so on—God doesn’t look at all that. God only looks at whether someone pursues the truth and whether they can one day change. In the Bible there is a story about the return of the prodigal son—why did the Lord Jesus use this parable? It was to make people understand that God’s intention to save mankind is sincere, and that He gives people the opportunity to repent and change. Throughout this process, God understands man, knowing well their weaknesses and the degree of their corruption. He knows that people will stumble and fail. Just like a child learning to walk, no matter how physically strong they are, there will always be times where they fall and stumble, and times when they knock into things and trip over. God understands every person in the way that a mother understands her child. He understands each person’s difficulties, their weaknesses, and their needs. Even more than that, God understands what difficulties, weaknesses, and failures people will face in the process of entering into dispositional change. These are the things that God understands best. This means that God scrutinizes the depths of people’s hearts. No matter how weak you are, as long as you don’t renounce God’s name, or leave Him and this way, then you’ll always have the chance to achieve dispositional change. If you have this chance, then you have hope of surviving, and therefore of being saved by God.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. The Path of Practice Toward Changing One’s Disposition