Last time, in our fellowship on “How to Pursue the Truth,” we covered one aspect of the practice of “letting go,” namely the aspect concerning notions and imaginings about the incarnate God that is involved in letting go of one’s notions and imaginings about God. Isn’t that right? (Yes.) In our fellowship on letting go of one’s notions and imaginings about the incarnate God, we covered two main points. Do you remember what they are? (The first is not to compare the incarnate God with the God in heaven, and the second is not to put the incarnate God on a par with corrupt humankind.) You’ve got these two main points memorized, don’t you? (Yes, we do.) Not to compare the incarnate God with the God in heaven, and not to put the incarnate God on a par with corrupt humankind—these two points constitute the overarching principles for how to correctly treat God’s incarnate flesh. We also fellowshipped on some details. Through our fellowship on these two main points, shouldn’t you have gained an understanding and grasp of some principles for how to treat the incarnate God? When you measure the incarnate God according to your notions and imaginings, if you compare yourself against these principles, won’t you be able to discern and dissect whether the principles by which you treat the incarnate God are correct? (Yes.) After we fellowshipped on these things, some of people’s notions and imaginings about the incarnate God should, in theory, have been resolved. Overall, if you were asked to testify positively about what God’s incarnate flesh is like, and how He should be known and how He should be treated, perhaps you would not have much positive knowledge, nor would it be specific. However, when you develop notions about the incarnate God and live in a negative state, you should be able to use some truth principles to resolve them. At the very least, in terms of your treatment of the normality and practicality of the incarnate God, and of matters relating to His normal humanity and outward appearance, you are able to understand these things correctly and treat them correctly, aren’t you? (Yes.) Even if you do not have much knowledge of the essence and disposition of the incarnate God, or of what He has and is, through these fellowships you can at least discern some of the notions and imaginings or fallacious understandings you hold about the incarnate God, and you can also treat His normality, practicality, and normal humanity correctly. At this point, if you develop some notions and imaginings or fallacious understandings again, you will be able to use what was fellowshipped previously to resolve them. Previously, we fellowshipped on the normality and practicality of the incarnate God, as well as what His thoughts and views are on all kinds of things and on certain crucial matters. People have gained a basic understanding of this person, the incarnate God, and know exactly what the normal humanity, normality, and practicality of the incarnate God are like. Through fellowship on these matters, people have gained the most basic correct concept and correct definition of God’s incarnate flesh. Once people have this most basic correct concept and definition, when they again develop notions and imaginings about the incarnate God, will they be able, on a subjective level, to take the initiative to let go of their own notions? (Yes.) To a certain extent, this reduces the resistance, guardedness, doubts, judgment, or condemnation people harbor toward the incarnate God. Of course, it also improves people’s relationship with God to a certain extent, and at the same time, it also enables them to establish a more correct and more practical relationship with Him. This relationship aligns more closely with the truth principles than the relationship people establish with God amid their notions and imaginings, and people are also somewhat closer to God, aren’t they? (Yes.)

Regarding letting go of one’s notions and imaginings about the incarnate God, we previously fellowshipped on these two main points: “not to compare the incarnate God with the God in heaven, and not to put the incarnate God on a par with corrupt humankind.” When you develop notions about the incarnate God, I hope you can use these two main points that I have fellowshipped on and arrived at to resolve them. Perhaps these two main points cannot completely resolve your notions and imaginings about the incarnate God, but at the very least they can enable you to assume your proper position as a created being, and treat God’s incarnate flesh with the most basic attitude that a created being should have. In this way, as far as God’s incarnate flesh is concerned, logically speaking, this can at least be considered fair and reasonable; for you, it provides great protection. During the third stage of work, this special period, God works in a special way. This special way involves this aspect—God’s incarnate flesh. Therefore, in this period, people must understand the truth regarding how to treat the incarnate God, and they must also face the issues in this regard. Since people must face these issues, they cannot avoid associating, communicating, and interacting with the incarnate God—this is one aspect; another is that people’s notions about God are also an unavoidable topic. For these two reasons, if one wishes to resolve their notions and imaginings about the incarnate God, the best method is to abide by the two principles I have told you: not to compare the incarnate God with the God in heaven, and not to put the incarnate God on a par with corrupt humankind. Living up to these two principles is not necessarily difficult, yet it cannot really be called easy either—it does present a certain degree of difficulty. It depends on the stance and perspective you adopt, and the position you adopt, when you resolve the issues in this regard and practice the principles involved. If you adopt the perspective of a created being, and adopt the stance of seeking the truth and loving positive things, then the issues in this regard should be easy to resolve in terms of normal humanity. At the very least, when you adopt the stance and perspective of a created being, you will use the conscience and rationality of normal humanity to assess the work done and the words spoken by the incarnate God. When you assess them from this stance and perspective, even if you do not understand much of the truth or do not understand the truth at all, you will at the very least treat this ordinary person—the incarnate God—rationally, in accordance with your conscience. When you treat this ordinary person rationally, you can at least achieve one thing, which is that you will not be hostile toward Him. If you do not view this person from the perspective and stance of a created being, much less interact and communicate with Him from the perspective of the conscience and rationality of humanity, then you will naturally adopt the perspective and stance of corrupt humankind, and associate and interact with the incarnate God just as you would interact with a corrupt human being. It will then be very difficult for you to not compare the incarnate God with the God in heaven and to not put the incarnate God on a par with corrupt humankind, and very difficult for you to treat God’s incarnate flesh according to these two principles. Naturally, you will then stand in opposition to the incarnate God and scrutinize Him and analyze Him, guard against and suspect Him, and become even more likely to judge Him and treat Him according to human notions and imaginings or man’s corrupt thoughts and views. In this way, you will naturally stand in opposition to Him and approach Him with a hostile gaze. When you approach Him with a hostile gaze, you will naturally develop all manner of fallacious thoughts and views or fallacious ideas. Afterward, you may put yourself on an equal footing with Him; you may become jealous of Him; you may misunderstand Him, guard yourself against Him, and judge Him; you may even fight with Him in your heart or fight with Him openly. If so, you will never be able to let go of your notions and imaginings about God’s incarnate flesh, and you will also have no way to resolve them. What does this mean? It means that you cannot establish with this ordinary person—the incarnate God—the relationship between a created being and the Creator, which also means that there is no relationship between you and God. What does having no relationship mean? You think you are someone who believes in God and follows God, but from God’s perspective, He has not seen you actually take action in this regard, and He does not acknowledge you as His follower or as His sheep. You are not God’s follower and not God’s sheep—what does that mean then? Can you still attain salvation? Do you have any hope of attaining salvation? (No.) Your hope of attaining salvation is very slim. Therefore, in the final analysis, is whether or not man can ultimately attain salvation directly related to how he treats God? (Yes.) Since this is a direct relationship, it is no ordinary relationship. Establishing a normal relationship with God is therefore no small matter, and man should approach it with prudence. Do not think, “I just have some notions about God. I just have some imaginings about Him that do not quite accord with reality and do not quite accord with actual circumstances. This shouldn’t amount to anything, and it won’t affect my pursuit of the truth and attainment of salvation.” It is false to say that it has no effect; that does not accord with the facts. If your relationship with God is very distant and many things stand between you and God, not merely notions and imaginings, then that means that, between you and God, there are many conflicts and barriers, and there are many problems. The root cause of these problems is definitely not with God, but with man. Many problems exist between you and God, and one of them is the problem that exists between you and the incarnate God. The most crucial and most important problem between you and the incarnate God is your notions and imaginings about the incarnate God. Being full of notions and imaginings about God’s incarnate flesh means that you are full of hostility and full of animosity toward Him. While being full of this hostility and animosity, you are, in fact, essentially rejecting this ordinary person who is God’s incarnate flesh. This is because the god in your notions and imaginings is not like this; the god in your notions and imaginings differs from God’s incarnate flesh in every respect. If you have notions and imaginings about God’s incarnate flesh, then what you follow and what you believe in is the god in your notions and imaginings, and it has nothing to do with God’s incarnate flesh. What does this mean? What you follow is not God’s incarnate flesh, nor is it God Himself. Regardless of whether what you follow is an idol in your notions and imaginings or some great or superhuman figure, in short, he is the god in your notions and imaginings; he has nothing to do with God Himself, and God does not acknowledge that you believe in Him. Therefore, if you want to become God’s follower, want to establish a relationship with God, and want God to recognize you as His follower and recognize you as a sheep He intends to save, then you must first accept the incarnate God and accept everything about Him. When you do this, in the eyes of God’s Spirit, you have completely accepted the incarnate God: You have let go of your notions and imaginings and accepted everything about Him. What does everything include? It includes His normality and practicality, His humanity, His life, as well as every word He says to you, all His requirements for you, and His attitude toward you—you are able to accept all of these. You take the incarnate God and treat Him as the Creator and as God; you treat the God on earth the same as you treat the God in heaven. When the God on earth speaks, it is as if the God in heaven were speaking to you in person; you listen to His words and accept His words. Your submission to Him, and any one of your attitudes, thoughts, and viewpoints concerning Him are the same as those you have toward the invisible God in heaven and the God in your mind. You have an earnest and sincere attitude, and a submissive mindset, without inner resistance, without animosity, and without contempt. Regardless of how normal and practical this person—the incarnate God—may be, and regardless of the fact that this person is even considered completely unnoteworthy in the eyes of worldly people—in your heart you still firmly believe that He is the expression of the God in heaven, and the embodiment of the God in heaven. The notions you hold about this person and your attitude toward Him should not be the same as those of nonbelievers. You should treat this person who is the incarnate God with the mindset and attitude of a created being. Suppose that, no matter what He does, no matter what He says or what He requires of you, you are able to treat Him with the mindset and attitude of a created being and, taking it a step further, you are able to submit to Him. Even if you reveal corruption, harbor notions and imaginings, or feel resistant to the incarnate God, you are able to assess and resolve these things in the way God has taught you—by using the truth principles. You are able to examine yourself and prune yourself, and then you are able to repent. If you have such an attitude toward the incarnate God, then God will accept you and God will recognize your belief. If you have such an attitude toward the incarnate God and have true submission, and even when there are things about the incarnate God that people regard as unnoteworthy or ridicule, you can still treat them correctly, and have submission to Him and have love for Him, then God, who scrutinizes the innermost heart of man, will accept your heart and will recognize your attitude. What confirms that God recognizes your attitude and accepts your heart? It is the Holy Spirit’s work upon you: He guides you, leads you, and enlightens you at all times, in all matters, and in all respects, giving you enlightenment and light in God’s words and in the truth. What others cannot gain or understand is particularly clear to you. No matter what you do, you have a path to follow, and the way ahead is entirely bright rather than hazy or obscure. You have God’s guidance at all times and in all matters, and you feel that submitting to God is particularly easy—that it’s not a difficult thing, and not strenuous. Is this not confirmation that God recognizes you and accepts you? (Yes.) In addition, in many major matters—in some critical matters of life and death, matters that determine your destiny and determine your destination—God will bless you, will guide you, and will be exceptionally gracious to you. Especially in some situations of persecution, God will be particularly gracious to you and protect you. What does it mean that He is gracious to you and protects you? For example, when you encounter exceptional circumstances and face a critical moment of life and death that appears particularly dangerous, God may act so that you are able to escape from right under the noses of evil people or the regime of evil demons. It is as if they cannot see you, as if you are transparent, and you are able to narrowly escape danger, avoiding falling into Satan’s net and avoiding falling under Satan’s influence. God protects you so that you can continue experiencing God’s work in a suitable environment. Is this not a good thing? Is this not God’s special gracious treatment and special protection? (Yes.) You see, some people are revealed and eliminated when they encounter special circumstances; this is God using those circumstances to clear these people away. Of course, when it comes to clearing people away, there are multiple ways. For example, some people are arrested, thrown into prison, and then deny God. Some, after being subjected to cruel torture, sign the “Three Statements” and betray God. Some are afraid of being arrested and beaten to death, so they no longer dare to believe and are scared out of their wits. These are all critical matters of life and death, and in these special circumstances and special situations, these people are revealed and eliminated. When faced with the same critical matters of life and death, some people have God’s protection, while others do not. Though they all experience God’s sovereignty and His orchestrations, God allows some to narrowly escape danger, continue to survive, continue to do their duties, and continue to experience God’s work, while others cannot enjoy this blessing and gracious treatment of narrowly escaping danger. You see, are they not different? (Yes.) So, what ultimately is the root cause of this difference? It comes down to one thing: People’s attitudes toward God are different. This attitude is very important. Isn’t this so? (Yes.) If your attitude toward God is accepted by God and recognized by God, then God will need you and God will use you. If God wants to use you, then tell Me, how will He exercise sovereignty over everything concerning you? Will God clear you away? Will He eliminate you? (No.) God would feel reluctant, for there are not many people like this, so God will not eliminate you. Therefore, one’s attitude toward God is very crucial and very important. If one has a correct attitude toward God, has a submissive attitude, and has an attitude accepted by God, then God will bless them and be gracious to them. Conversely, suppose that one’s heart is full of notions and imaginings and full of animosity regarding God. They scrutinize God and guard against God every day, try to make deals with God and bargain with God every day, and are defiant toward, resentful toward, and dissatisfied with God in their heart every day, without the slightest intention of seeking the truth. Even knowing that their attitude toward God is wrong, they feel no remorse, do not turn back, and continue to persist in their wrong attitude. In your belief in God, you want to gain the truth and gain God’s salvation from Him—is that possible under these circumstances? Tell Me, is God willing to save you? Even though those whom God saves are corrupt human beings—human beings who harbor notions and imaginings about God and are full of animosity toward God—when you understand how to do what a created being should do with regard to the Creator but you do not do it, then tell Me, what is God’s attitude toward you? No matter what God does to you, it is fair and reasonable; you have only yourself to blame, and you brought it upon yourself. Isn’t that right? (Yes.) If other matters are involved, for example, if you cannot cooperate harmoniously with others, or are always arrogant and conceited, and act unilaterally, and these corrupt dispositions are not resolved in a timely manner and you have no life entry, this is still not the most critical problem. The most critical problem is this: You are full of notions and imaginings about God, you are full of aversion and hatred toward the truth, and you scrutinize God every day; even if you do some of your duty, you still try to bargain with God, constantly try to reason with God in your heart, and find various reasons and excuses to complain that God was wrong in doing certain things, and that He did not satisfy your desires or bless you in other matters—every day you are dissatisfied with, defiant toward, and resentful toward God in your heart, without the slightest submission to God that a created being should have. Tell Me, how will God treat you? Will God be satisfied with you? (No.) Then will God bless you? (No.) If God is not satisfied with you, will He still use you? (No.) God will not use you, and He is not satisfied with you. Then will God want to save you? If He saves you, will He feel pleased? (No.) If God is not pleased and is always dissatisfied with you, tell Me, what kind of condition are you in? Is the Holy Spirit working upon you? Do you have God’s enlightenment and guidance? Do you have God’s leading? Do you have God’s blessing? (None of these.) Then what must one do to reverse this situation? (One must quickly submit to God and have true repentance. They must stop clinging to their notions and imaginings about God, stop scrutinizing God every day, and stop being defiant and resentful toward God; instead, they must be able to consciously rebel against themselves and practice the truth. Only in this way can they have God’s blessing and gain the Holy Spirit’s work and leading.) One must feel remorse, let go of the evil in their hands, and turn back to God; they must turn this state around. You must change your wrong attitude toward God and let go of your notions and imaginings about God; only then will God recognize you as a created being. You are always trying to bargain with God, your heart is full of notions and imaginings about God, and you are always dissatisfied with, defiant toward, and resentful toward God—is this what a created being should do? (No.) Then what kind of person is this? (A devil and a Satan.) Can God still save devils and Satans? (No.) You must reverse your stance. You must be a created being; you must not be a devil or a Satan. God saves created beings; He does not save devils and Satans. If you act as a devil and a Satan, walk the path that devils and Satans walk, and treat God with the attitude that devils and Satans treat God with, then God cannot possibly save you. Therefore, no matter what you do, it won’t go smoothly and you’ll always hit a wall; no matter what you do, you will have neither God’s guidance nor His enlightenment; and no matter what you do, you will have no path, and everything before your eyes will always be pitch black—it will always be as if you are groping in the dark, and even after groping for a long time, you still won’t be able to see the path. The less you can see the path, the more you will doubt God; the more you doubt God, the darker your heart will become and the further it will sink. You must turn back to God. Turning back is very important. You must turn back until you are willing to be a created being, have a submissive attitude toward God, are no longer hostile to God and are no longer antagonistic to God, and possess a submissive mindset—then God will accept you. If you turn things around in this way, see what God will do and see whether your inner state will change. Understood? (Understood.)

The purpose of fellowship on the correct attitude toward the incarnate God is to enable man to have an accurate definition of Him and have an accurate knowledge of Him that aligns with the truth, and then to treat Him with the correct attitude. Although outwardly He is an ordinary person, His identity is not that of an ordinary person. This you must never forget. With this as your foundation, your attitude toward God should be one of unconditionally submitting and following, and you should not offer any excuses. We have spoken a great deal about the truths concerning the incarnate God. To conclude with a summary: How should man know the incarnate God? I will tell you the most crucial words of all—remember them! The incarnate God possesses God’s life but not God’s image—this is one aspect. Another aspect is that the incarnate God has a human outward appearance but is not a member of corrupt humankind. This is God’s incarnate flesh. You must remember these two sentences and ponder them whenever you have a moment. When you encounter this kind of problem, take these two sentences and consider them carefully, and see how you should approach the problem you have encountered. Have you remembered these two sentences? (Yes, we have remembered them.) Tell Me what they are. (The incarnate God possesses God’s life but not God’s image; the incarnate God has a human outward appearance but is not a member of corrupt humankind.) Read them again. (The incarnate God possesses God’s life but not God’s image; the incarnate God has a human outward appearance but is not a member of corrupt humankind.) Doesn’t this sum up God’s incarnate flesh? (Yes.) You must remember these words and ponder them over time. Once you understand these two aspects, you will have some knowledge of the incarnate God.

Now that we’ve fellowshipped on how to know the incarnate God, let’s fellowship further and summarize this. How should you correctly treat the incarnate God? How should you resolve your own notions? How should you resolve your various incorrect attitudes, thoughts, and views regarding the incarnate God? Take stock of this. No matter what kinds of problems you encounter, how should you resolve them? How should you correctly treat the incarnate God? Mainly, this concerns resolving one’s notions and imaginings. Once one’s notions and imaginings are resolved, the problem itself is for the most part resolved as well—what remains after that is resolving one’s corrupt dispositions. Is this not so? (Yes.) Then let’s fellowship on this issue. When you have notions and imaginings about the incarnate God, how do you handle them and how do you resolve them? What paths and what methods and ways are there to resolve them? (When I have notions and imaginings about the incarnate God, I reflect on myself to see why I’ve developed these notions and imaginings, and what the root of the problem is. While reflecting, I find that I have many corrupt dispositions, such as deceitfulness and wickedness. Because of these corrupt dispositions, I develop notions and imaginings about God and thus become suspicious of God’s actions and words. Additionally, because I understand and know very little about the incarnate God, I view what He has and is through the lens of my own notions and imaginings. So, in one respect, I come to know the corrupt dispositions and erroneous thoughts and views within me, and in another respect, I try to know God from His words and from His work. I have come to appreciate this after God’s recent fellowships.) Good. First, let’s look at who this person, the incarnate God, represents when He comes among people, and what work He does. What definition and what view people have of the incarnate God within their notions and imaginings represent what the god of their notions and imaginings is like. The image of God in people’s notions and imaginings comes down to two types: One is the image of a superhuman, and the other is the image of a great figure. A superhuman is an extraordinary person who transcends the scope of normal humanity and is not an ordinary mortal. Additionally, even though he has normal humanity, he does not possess the characteristics, manifestations, or ways of thinking of the general populace; he transcends ordinary people, just like a great figure in the eyes of man. The god in people’s notions and imaginings comes down to just these two types: either a superhuman or a great figure. So, judging by God’s essence and God’s life, do you think that when God incarnates Himself and becomes a human being, He would choose to be a great figure or a superhuman? (No.) What makes this evident to you? How can you be certain that God wouldn’t do this? (Given God’s disposition and essence, God doesn’t like presenting a lofty and great image, so God’s incarnate flesh is ordinary, unremarkable, humble, and hidden.) There is no arrogance in God’s essence, which determines that God’s choice when He becomes flesh is to be an ordinary, unremarkable person. Outwardly, He does not have a lofty image, and inwardly, He does not possess an extraordinary humanity. From the inside out, no matter how you look at Him, He is ordinary and normal. In man’s eyes, God acting this way is Him being humble and hidden, and it is a revelation from God’s essence and what He has and is. In fact, God doesn’t intentionally act this way for man to see; God making this choice and God acting this way is the natural revelation of His life. It is not contrived, nor is it a facade. That is, no matter how lofty and how supreme God is in man’s imaginings, the natural revelation of God’s life is to be humble, hidden, and unshowy, and when God incarnates Himself, He becomes an ordinary, common flesh—that is, His humanity and outward appearance, His speech, actions and deportment, and every other aspect are normal. This normality is not vulgar or lowbrow; rather, His humanity and rationality are within the scope of normal humanity, and His conscience and reason are normal. This is one aspect of the matter. Additionally, under the governance of the conscience and reason of normal humanity, His thoughts and views, His methods and ways of doing things, and even His principles of self-conduct all align with the truth. Although they may seem unnoteworthy to man, and though they may appear very common and very ordinary to man, what is revealed through them is also the natural revelation of God’s life. Whether in terms of His humanity or the revelation of His divine life, they all align with God’s essence and also align with what God has and is; it’s just that man does not recognize this. Man’s heart is full of notions and imaginings. Man does not understand that the revelations of God’s humanity and His divinity are both positive, and he does not understand that these are the realities of positive things. Man has been corrupted by Satan, and he does not understand what positive things are, nor does he understand what negative things are, and he simply lacks the ability to discern right from wrong, so things that come from God—which are positive, in line with humanity, and in line with the truth—are all often condemned by man. The reason they are condemned is that human beings view everything coming from God from the stance of various thoughts and views corrupted by Satan. But when you view all this from the perspective and stance of the thoughts and views that God teaches you, you will not feel that what is revealed from God’s incarnate flesh—whether in terms of His humanity or His divine life—is insignificant or unnoteworthy. When you know and are certain about what positive things are, you will love these revelations and manifestations of the incarnate God which are common, ordinary, and considered unnoteworthy by man. Not only will you not condemn them, but you will also be able to love them, and beyond loving them, you will have a heartfelt desire to emulate Him, rather than despising and being hostile toward Him. Looking at God’s incarnate flesh from a practical perspective, what He possesses is normal humanity and God’s life. Whether it is in terms of God’s life or His normal humanity, which is unremarkable and ordinary, He seems neither extraordinary nor great in the eyes of man. This is God’s choice. This is like how God created all things—every single thing is so real, and although each thing appears so unremarkable and ordinary in the eyes of man, they were all produced and created by God’s life and authority. Look at the trees, grass, and flowers, the fish in the sea, the various living things on land, the birds in the sky—in the eyes of man, the life of every one of these things is so unremarkable and particularly ordinary. They do not look extraordinary at all, much less great, but their life comes from the Creator’s hands, from the Creator’s creation. It is just that practical. Look at the ants on the ground. Are such tiny things created by God? (Yes.) They are also created by God. The way people see it, such tiny things do not seem worthy of God’s creation; if God were to create, He would create grand things, such as the universe, the starry sky, and the Milky Way and all the galaxies, whereas tiny things like ants and insects shouldn’t come from God’s hands. But their life indeed originates from God. The way people see it, a great figure or superhuman would not do these things they think little of. But for God, there was no distinction between great and small in His creation of all things. All things, from the macroscopic to the microscopic, come from the Creator’s creation. For God, when He created all things, there was no picking and choosing, nor were there personal preferences as human beings understand them. Whatever this mankind needs, God created and God provides. Even though there are many things that, in man’s eyes, are so insignificant that they are not worth mentioning, they still come from God’s creation; and even despite the fact that many things play a very minor role in mankind’s survival, they also come from God’s creation. You see, is the essence of God’s life lovely? (Yes, it is.) God has an unremarkable aspect and He has an ordinary aspect, and of course, He also has an extraordinary aspect. To be more precise, this extraordinariness comes from God’s almightiness and God’s authority. But for God, He does not feel that He is extraordinary or great, as corrupt human beings would. Everything God does is normal, it also happens naturally, and of course, it is also the natural revelation of His life and authority.

What kind of image and what kind of outward appearance the incarnate God chooses, what kind of humanity and what kind of personality He has, what kind of lifestyle and way of survival He chooses, and what principles of self-conduct He has—all these are things people can see. You see, are God’s choices the same as the choices of corrupt human beings, or the choices of Satan and devils? (No.) How are they different? (What God chooses is unremarkable, ordinary, and normal, while what corrupt human beings and Satan choose are all things that appear rather extraordinary, great, and supernatural on the outside.) From this choice of God’s, which aspects of what God has and is can man see? This involves man’s knowledge of God. God’s disposition is humble and hidden, and free of arrogance; this can be seen from the fact that the incarnate God is normal and ordinary, not extraordinary, and particularly practical. God has a lofty image, God is almighty, and God has authority, but when God becomes flesh, He chooses such an ordinary person and an ordinary outward appearance, and can still shoulder the work. So, judging from God’s original intention, is it not the case that God does not like to show off, does not want to show off, and does not show off? (Yes.) Then from these “nots,” can we be certain that God does not have an arrogant disposition? (Yes.) Judging from the outward appearance of God’s incarnate flesh and looking at every aspect of the incarnate God, He does not want man to see Him as very lofty, as very extraordinary, as very unusual, as very different from everyone else, or as very unique. That God doesn’t want these things means that He never thinks this way. His natural revelation is to choose to be an ordinary person—insignificant, humble, modest, and sincere—and to be an ordinary person in a practical and well-behaved manner, keeping within the proper bounds, and to just properly do the work He ought to do and accomplish it. You see, this is what God has in mind; these have been the thoughts and ideas of God incarnate since the beginning. So tell Me, why does God not say, “I am the Creator, I am the Sovereign of the universe and all things. If I became flesh and was born into an ordinary family, that absolutely wouldn’t do, and a manger is even more so out of the question. I must be born in a royal palace. The incarnate God—Christ—should have a royal identity. No matter the dynasty, He must be born into the most prominent family among mankind”? Tell Me, would God think this way? Does God make such choices, and does God have such needs? (No.) God doesn’t make such choices—is this Him restraining Himself, presenting a facade, or putting on an act for man to see? (None of these are the case.) Then what is it? (It is a revelation from God’s life essence.) It is a revelation from God’s essence. Just like this, God naturally chooses to be born into an ordinary family, and to become an ordinary person. His upbringing is also very simple; He doesn’t come from a prominent family, His social background is also very simple, and He has not received a higher education. You see, God’s thinking, ideas, and viewpoints in doing things are different from those of corrupt human beings and Satan. How would corrupt human beings choose? To be born into a prominent family, to live a life of luxury, to have an uncommon family and social background, to have status and have power, to receive a higher education, to be learned, talented, and gifted, to have an elegant outward appearance, to be distinguished in speech—in short, to be different from ordinary people in every respect. You see, this is what man would choose. If Satan were to come among people to do things, what would its choice be? If it were asked to be born into an ordinary family, to be born at the very bottom of society, would it be willing? (No.) How would it choose then? (It would choose to be born into a prominent family or a royal palace, that is, a family with quite high status.) It would choose to be born into a family with quite high social status, where for several generations the family tree has been full of court officials, including prime ministers, premiers, secretaries of state, generals, and marshals—a prominent family. It would choose this kind of family. In addition, Satan itself would be highly talented in all areas and be a standout among people, wouldn’t it? (Yes.) Why do Satan and corrupt human beings make such choices? What is the intention behind making such choices? (To make people idolize them and regard them highly.) Tell Me, what kind of disposition is always wanting others to idolize oneself, wanting others to regard oneself highly, and wanting others to admire oneself? What essence is this revealed from? (Arrogance.) Why do you say it’s arrogance? If someone is capable and gets people to idolize them, what’s bad about that? People also follow God and worship God, so do people also idolize God? What is the difference here? If someone is lofty and capable, and others idolize them, that is other people’s problem—what does it have to do with the person being idolized? So why do you say that the person being idolized has an arrogant disposition? (People have been corrupted by Satan and are full of Satan’s various corrupt dispositions; there’s nothing about them worth boasting of or showing off. Yet people always want to show off to make others regard them highly and idolize them. This is an arrogant disposition, and it is shameful.) What you say is theoretically correct, but the root of the problem has not yet been explained clearly. This also involves an aspect of the truth, which you should understand. Satan does not possess the truth, nor does it have God’s authority or God’s almightiness, much less does it have God’s essence. There is nothing to love about Satan. It cannot provide man with the truth, nor can it hold sovereignty over man’s destiny; its destiny is still held in God’s hands, and God controls its destiny. It is not the God of mankind, nor is it the Lord of mankind, much less is it the Creator of all things. What is it? Judging by its disposition and essence, it is full of corruption, wickedness, and viciousness. It is antagonistic to all positive things, and it is the culmination of all negative things. It cannot bring the truth, bring the way, or bring the right to survive, to any living creature or to mankind, nor can it save mankind. All it does to man is ruin, corrupt, mislead, and entice him, making him degenerate, making him antagonistic to God, and making him hostile to positive things. Therefore, Satan is unworthy of mankind’s worship. It is unworthy of mankind’s worship, yet it still wants to stand in God’s place and have mankind worship it—is this not shameless? (Yes.) This is shameless in nature; in terms of disposition, what kind of disposition causes this? (Arrogance and conceit.) This is caused by arrogance and conceit. The manifestation of being arrogant and conceited is not having reason. People who don’t have reason can be arrogant and conceited. The disposition of someone who does not possess the reason of normal humanity is arrogant and conceited, and even utterly lawless. Such a person is a Satan. Mankind has been corrupted by Satan, so do they possess this kind of disposition? (Yes.) With this disposition of arrogance and conceit, man becomes devoid of reason, his reason becomes unsound, and therefore he is unable to worship God. Man is unable to worship God, and does not love positive things, yet he always wants others to idolize him. This makes him just like Satan. Look at what Satan would choose. If it were to be a human being, it would choose to be a great figure or a superhuman; it would not choose to be an ordinary person or a common person, to be an ordinary and unremarkable created being who can worship God. It would not choose this path. It would choose to be a superhuman, to be a great figure, to be a standout among people, to be someone who could lead mankind and who could control mankind, and to be someone who could get others to regard them highly, get others to idolize them, and get others to follow them. It would then further mislead and corrupt man, making him degenerate under its corruption, drift away from God, stray from the true way, and become antagonistic to God. You see, this is how Satan would choose. So, judging by its choices, what is Satan’s life essence? Is there beauty and goodness in it? (No.) Is there modesty in it? (No.) Is it positive? (No, it is entirely negative.) By contrast, what is God’s life, and what is God’s essence? (Particularly beautiful and good.) God’s life essence is beautiful and good, and is deserving of man’s love; God deserves to be followed by man and He deserves to be worshiped by man. If man worships Satan, who possesses an arrogant disposition, what will happen to him? He will only become more and more degenerate, more and more arrogant, increasingly unable to discern right from wrong, and will increasingly hate positive things and drift away from God. But what if man worships God and follows God? The result will be different then. Man’s conscience and reason will become more and more normal, he will increasingly love positive things, and what he reveals of his life will become closer and closer to positive things, and closer and closer to the practicality, ordinariness, normality, and unremarkableness revealed from God. When you have cast off the corrupt disposition of arrogance, you will also naturally reveal a humanity that is ordinary, normal, and practical, and at the same time, you will also like such positive things as ordinary, normal, and unremarkable created beings. When you have God’s words as your life, the things you love will be different, the path you choose will be different, and your viewpoints and choices regarding anything will also be different. Right? (Yes.)

The outward appearance of God’s incarnate flesh and His conditions in all respects, as well as what you can see of and can hear of all that He possesses—all these come from God. They are what God chose before becoming flesh, and they are also God’s own doing. Looking at God’s incarnate flesh, then, in coming among people, God is not playing the role of a superhuman or a great figure—He is just acting as the ordinary, normal incarnate God Himself, and has nothing at all to do with the superhumans or great figures that are deemed as such by corrupt mankind or that corrupt mankind likes. Therefore, if you want to accept the incarnate God, you must first let go of the demand that the incarnate God be a superhuman or a great figure; you must let go of this requirement, let go of this desire, and let go of this incorrect thought and view. Accepting the ordinariness, unremarkableness, normality, and practicality of the incarnate God, and letting go of your requirement that the incarnate God be great and extraordinary: this is the most basic attitude a created being should have toward the incarnate God, and it is also something that you should possess within your rationality. In addition to letting go of the requirement that the incarnate God be great and extraordinary, with some specific matters you must know that, in coming to earth to do His work, the incarnate God is not engaging in a human enterprise. First, He does not engage in scientific research. Second, He has not come to popularize knowledge, nor to impart principles, teach skills, or clear up confusions. So, the incarnate God has not come to play the role of a scholar; He is not a professor, He is not a scholar, nor is He any kind of intellectual. In your view, since the incarnate God is not an unremarkable person and does not play an ordinary role, He should have received a higher education, be highly learned and cultured, have extraordinary knowledge and theories, or be proficient in various disciplines and technical skills—you are wrong to think this way. God does not engage in human enterprise; He does not engage in any of mankind’s pursuits of technical skills, of professional skills, or of worldly knowledge. What has He come to do? He has come to carry out God’s own management. What is God’s own management? It is using the truth and using His words to work and to save man—this is God’s management. Although He is an ordinary person, and although He has the outward appearance of a human being, what He does is not the work of man but the work of God. What He does is one item of work in God’s six-thousand-year management plan, and in God’s eyes, this work is God’s management. He is carrying out God’s management, managing God’s church, managing God’s work, managing God’s work of saving mankind, managing the unfinished work of God, and managing an item of work which entails taking God’s words, and taking the truth, and working them into man so that they become his life. Therefore, if you believe in your heart or in your notions and imaginings that the incarnate God should be highly learned, should speak in a rigorously grammatical way, and should speak about lofty theories, then you are wrong. In coming among people, the incarnate God has never intended to receive any form of human education, He has never intended to learn any human technical or professional skill or knowledge, and He has never intended to pursue a human career by acquiring human knowledge, thereby achieving the goal of living and surviving among mankind. When you have these notions and imaginings about the incarnate God, you should seek the truth to resolve them, and you should treat the incarnate God correctly. That is, you should view the incarnate God with the attitude of a created being, rather than viewing this ordinary person through the lens of a corrupt human being. God does His work among people, expressing God’s words, expressing God’s disposition, providing mankind with God’s truth, and bestowing the way and life upon mankind. This ordinary person, the incarnate flesh of God, only needs to possess one thing to be capable of shouldering this work. What is this one thing? He only needs to possess God’s life—that is enough. As for how educated He is, whether He possesses profound learning, whether He has received a higher education, whether He has social experience and whether He has insight, what things He has experienced, whether He has researched the culture of a certain nation or of people from a certain lineage, whether He understands the quintessence of a certain aspect of human culture, whether He has grasped the knowledge and common sense of mankind in a certain field, what gifts and abilities He possesses, and so on—all of these are unimportant. What is important is that the life He possesses, the life He reveals, is sufficient for Him to shoulder God’s own work, is sufficient for Him to take God’s words and God’s work, and express them, and then to work them upon man, ridding corrupt mankind of their corrupt dispositions, and bringing man before God so that he may attain salvation. This is sufficient for Him to shoulder God’s work. Therefore, if you demand that the incarnate God come from a good background and prominent family, that He be the recipient of a higher education, that He be eloquent and good with words, that He be able to write articles, able to compose music, and able to dance, and also that He be proficient in many technical skills and areas of knowledge, then I say you are wrong—you’re barking up the wrong tree. If you were at a university, in political circles, or in various industries and fields, making such demands of a professor, a leader, or a CEO might be fair and reasonable, but if you demand that the incarnate God possess these things, I say you are seriously wrong; this is an outrageously rebellious thought for you to have. You absolutely must not make these demands of the incarnate God. Why can’t you make these demands? We just said that the incarnate God does not engage in human enterprise, nor does He do work outside of God’s management. Therefore, if you have these notions and imaginings or have these demands regarding the incarnate God, for one thing, it is unreasonable, and for another, the perspective you are adopting is incorrect. If these two problems are resolved, then it will be easy to resolve many of your notions about the incarnate God, right? (Yes.) If the perspective you are adopting is incorrect, you must correct it. When it comes to the incarnate God, you should measure Him against the standards and principles that apply to God’s incarnate flesh, right? Can He express the truth, and does He possess God’s life? Is what He reveals God’s disposition and is it what God has and is? For mankind, are the things He expresses and that are revealed from Him the truth, are they what mankind needs, and are they sufficient to enable man to cast off his corrupt dispositions and attain salvation? Whether it be the truths He expresses, the work He does, or His working methods, do they enable you to walk the way of fearing God and shunning evil, do they enable you to worship God, and can they ultimately enable you to submit to God and fear Him? If so, this alone is enough for you to be certain that He is the incarnate flesh of God. Even if, in many regards, He hasn’t satisfied mankind’s requirements and also hasn’t satisfied mankind’s notions and imaginings, that only means that your notions and imaginings are unreasonable, inconsistent with the facts, and not positive things, or that your requirements are too exacting and unreasonable, and that your requirements are not positive things at all, but represent Satan. These unreasonable requirements you place upon the incarnate God are just like Satan demanding that the Lord Jesus worship it. Satan took the Lord Jesus to a very high mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory, and told Him, “If you bow down and worship me, all this glory and wealth will be yours.” What did the Lord Jesus say? (The Lord Jesus said: “Get you hence, Satan: for it is written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve” (Matthew 4:10).) Did the Lord Jesus agree to it? (No.) The Lord Jesus did not agree to it; He saw through its trickery. You see, this is Satan’s attitude toward God. If you have this kind of attitude toward the incarnate God, and if, in the circumstance and context of having already heard His words and accepted His work, and being certain that He has God’s identity, has God’s essence, and has God’s life, you still have these unreasonable demands of Him or harbor these notions and imaginings about Him, then that’s just like Satan demanding that the Lord Jesus worship it. These two things share the same nature. Do you understand? (Yes.)

God’s incarnate flesh has God’s life and has God’s essence, and can express God’s disposition. What is revealed from Him contains what God has and is. Although this is not the complete expression of God, what is revealed from Him and what He expresses are all revelations of God’s life essence. Once you are certain of this, you should be certain that He is God’s incarnate flesh—there is no mistake about it. Once you are certain of this, you should let go of your notions and let go of your unreasonable requirements. Some people say that letting go of these things is not easy. Actually, it’s not difficult; it just depends on whether you can accept the truth. If you can accept the truth, it’s easy to let go of these things. If you willingly and gladly accept this person—accepting His identity, accepting His essence, and accepting what He says and does, as well as His requirements of you—then you should accept His normality and practicality. When you accept His normality and practicality and willingly submit to Him, read His words again earnestly, and see what kind of changes will occur within you. Look also at the thoughts and views I have told you in all these words on how to treat things of all sorts, as well as the principles of practice for treating such matters and the paths to resolving them, and see whether they are the right way and whether they are the truth; see whether they align with the laws by which God created all things, and whether they align with the essence behind God’s sovereignty over all things. If you quiet your heart to pray-read these words and accept them as your life, then changes will gradually take place within you. Your love for positive things will gradually surpass your love for negative things, and the degree to which you love positive things will surpass the degree to which you love negative things. After reaping this harvest, another result is that you will gradually come to feel loathing toward the negative things that are of Satan. Whether it be wicked things, various fallacious thoughts and views, or wicked dispositions, you will, without realizing it, start to loathe these things, and you will rebel against, distance yourself from, and reject these negative things. This is a great thing for you. It means that you will no longer be controlled by Satan, and will no longer continue to be corrupted by it. It means that you have already embarked on the path of salvation, that you have hope of attaining salvation, and that you are about to attain salvation. So look at these words expressed by God: From something as small as the individual sentences, to as large as each thought and view therein, and further to the principles, directions, and goals for doing every kind of thing—are these words not what mankind needs? Are they not the provision of life? (Yes.) As you repeatedly pray-read, ponder, and experience them, if you feel that these words are the source of life, that they come from God, and that they are the truth, the way, and the life, then you will gradually let go of your various notions, imaginings, and unreasonable demands concerning God’s incarnate flesh. In addition, you will gradually have a correct comprehension of the ordinariness, normality, and practicality of God’s incarnate flesh. Along with correctly comprehending them, you will also accept them, and then willingly submit, feeling that the normality, practicality, and ordinariness of God’s incarnate flesh are just wonderful! When you feel that the ordinariness, normality, and practicality of God’s incarnate flesh are positive things, you will aspire to be an ordinary, normal, and practical person, just like God’s incarnate flesh; His way of conducting Himself and His principles of action will all become things for you to emulate. Additionally, you will feel that you have corrupt dispositions, and that being an ordinary, normal, and practical person is too difficult, but your heart will develop a kind of admiration rather than contempt for the incarnate God. You see, God’s incarnate flesh has God’s life. Outwardly He looks like an ordinary, normal person, but as He lives and exists among people, and as He conducts Himself and acts, He is never controlled or influenced by the corrupt dispositions of corrupt mankind. You will aspire to this kind of life, and at this point, you will feel that having these corrupt dispositions is a disgrace, and you will feel distressed. After you let go of your notions and imaginings concerning God’s incarnate flesh, and let go of your unreasonable requirements concerning Him, then you will accept His words, and ultimately you will aspire to the revelations, the living out, and the normality and practicality of the incarnate God, who possesses God’s life. Being able to accept and submit to God’s work rests on this foundation: You must first accept God’s incarnate flesh, and then let go of your notions, imaginings, and unreasonable requirements concerning the incarnate God. Of course, letting go is not the ultimate path of practice. The ultimate goal of letting go of your notions, imaginings, and unreasonable requirements concerning the incarnate God is for you to be able to accept all His teachings for you, accept His provision of words to you, accept the requirements He makes of you, and reach the point where you can submit to the requirements He makes of you. Only in this way can you have hope of attaining salvation. Therefore, the normality and practicality of the incarnate God, as well as the various problems presented by man’s notions and imaginings, are a major hurdle for man. Once you take this major hurdle and resolve it and clear it, and are able to accept the words that come from Him, becoming able to submit to the truths He expresses and submit to the words He expresses, you will be completely able to attain salvation.

Is letting go of your notions and imaginings about the incarnate God easy? (If one can accept the truth, it’s easy to let go of them.) That’s right. You could say it’s easy, but you could also say it’s quite difficult. If you stubbornly oppose Him and are always hostile toward this person, then it will not be easy for you to let go of your notions and imaginings about God. If you always assume the perspective of Satan, sharing the same stance and the same viewpoints as Satan, and you are always hostile toward the incarnate God, then you will never be able to accept His normality and practicality, and you will always despise Him. But if you assume the perspective of a created being, and treat God’s incarnate flesh using the thoughts, views, and stance with which you would treat God and treat the Creator, and you can accept the truth expressed by the incarnate God, then your notions, imaginings, and unreasonable demands concerning Him will be easy to let go of, and there will be a path to resolve them. However, if your notions about the incarnate God are too severe and you do not accept the truth at all; if in your heart you despise the incarnate God and always have unreasonable demands of Him; if you are even hostile toward Him and insist on opposing Him to the very end, then you are beyond redemption. Are you not courting death by deliberately making an enemy of the incarnate God? Why do I say this is courting death? This person bears no enmity or grudge against you, yet you are so hostile toward Him. Is there not a problem with your nature essence? (Yes.) I have never offended you or harmed you, nor have I had any personal association with you. So why do you refuse to let Me be, always having this hostile attitude? I even supply you with the truth and point out the path of salvation for you, yet you are so hostile toward Me. Clearly, then, the problem does not lie with Me, but with you. Since the problem is on your end, you should resolve your problem. I have pointed out to you the essence of your problem, its root cause, and the path to resolving it. Not only do you not seek the truth to resolve your problem, but you are also so hostile toward Me. Your problem, then, is not an ordinary problem; rather, there is a serious problem with your nature essence. If you’re always hostile toward the incarnate God, you are courting death; you are seeking your own doom and bringing about your own destruction. Isn’t that deserving of death? (Yes.) No matter how normal and practical God’s incarnate flesh is, even if some aspect of His lifestyle, life habits, or everyday routine—or some aspect of His humanity—strikes you as defects, are these defects a kind of sin, and are they a kind of corruption? (No.) If they’re not corruption, yet you always condemn them, is this not your problem? (Yes.) Why do you not dissect and condemn your own notions and imaginings? Why do you not condemn Satan? Satan and devils have committed so much evil, spread so many heresies and fallacies, and spoken so many words that slander and blaspheme God—why do you have no awareness of this? Why do you not hate Satan and devils? Isn’t this a problem? (Yes.) You constantly fixate on what people see as deficiencies or inadequacies in God’s incarnate flesh, or on manifestations that people do not regard as great or extraordinary, and refuse to let these things go, even taking these and regarding them as mistakes, as corruption, as sin. What kind of problem is this? This is called being hostile. What does being hostile mean? (Being antagonistic and hateful.) That is the literal meaning. Being hostile toward God’s incarnate flesh is being hostile toward positive things and not loving positive things. It means thinking: “You are so ordinary, normal, and practical; even though you express the truth, I don’t care. I just don’t like an ordinary, normal person expressing the truth. I don’t like this positive thing.” In addition, some people accept and follow the incarnate God, accept His work, listen to His sermons, and also do their duties, but they always scrutinize this ordinary person, the incarnate God: “What inadequacies do you have, and what problems do you have? Are there any things about you that I can seize upon for leverage? I must sniff out your problems, and find the defects in your humanity.” As soon as they discover something they consider to be a problem, it becomes a huge deal for them. They start to develop notions, but they do not seek the truth to resolve them, nor do they seek someone to fellowship with; instead, they take this problem and magnify it without limit in their hearts. They treat God’s incarnate flesh just like a judge treats a criminal, determining in their hearts: “No matter what you do, it’s wrong. Even though you can express the truth and can supply life to man, you are still the target of my hostility. Who told you to be an ordinary person? Being an ordinary person means you won’t get past me.” Although they have accepted this stage of work and give it the fine-sounding description of having followed God’s incarnate flesh, accepted the name of Almighty God, and accepted God’s salvation under this name of God, they have not found their own proper position, nor have they assumed their proper position. What position are they assuming? They are assuming the position of Satan; they are treating God from the position of nonbelievers and disbelievers. This is a position of courting death, and it is also a path of courting death. As for those disbelievers, nonbelievers, and devils and Satans, when you tell them that God expresses the truth and God supplies the truth, that God’s words are all the truth, and that they can allow man to attain salvation, they verbally acknowledge it, but later, after hearing some negative propaganda and baseless rumors directed at the incarnate God, they deny God and no longer accept Him. What about the people in the church? Some people have also listened to sermons, have also done their duties, and have also followed God up to now, but in their treatment of the incarnate God, just like those disbelievers and devils and Satans, they also constantly scrutinize Him, harbor resistance to Him in their hearts, have notions and never let them go or resolve them. This is clearly treating the incarnate God as a criminal, while they act like judges wanting to uphold justice. Do people have justice? People don’t even possess fairness or reasonableness. By treating the incarnate God in this way, people are assuming the wrong position. If you truly acknowledge that you are a follower of God and a created being, then you should view the incarnate God from the perspective of a created being. If you are truly willing to be one of God’s created beings, then do not adopt in your treatment of the incarnate God the kind of look and attitude that a judge views a criminal with. He is not someone for you to judge, nor is He a sinner in your eyes. No matter how normal and practical His humanity and His outward appearance are—even if, taking a step back, there are parts of the revelations of His humanity that you regard as unnoteworthy, or even that you feel are defects—He is not a sinner. Even if He has defects, that is not corruption; it does not affect His expressing the truth, it does not affect His saving you, and it does not affect His doing God’s own work. He is still God’s embodiment on earth; He is God’s representative on earth, and His identity will not change. If you persist in viewing Him according to your own requirements and outlook, and do not treat the incarnate God from the perspective of a created being, then you are in great danger and are liable to embark on the path of an antichrist. In other words, you don’t even have any hope of attaining salvation. Isn’t this what will happen? (Yes.) Therefore, when it comes to how you treat the incarnate God, no matter how reasonable your notions and imaginings seem to you, and no matter how serious the negative propaganda and baseless rumors you hear may be, you should think carefully and exercise discernment, and you should hold fast to the viewpoints and stance that a created being should have. It is just like when God became flesh for the first time—people had many ideas and notions about Jesus. People did not know Him, and they were not aware that He was God’s incarnate flesh. Of course, at that time, people were completely ignorant of the truth concerning the incarnation; they had no idea about it at all. People regarded Jesus as a master, as a teacher, as a spiritual figure, or as a prophet. Regardless of how people regarded Him, God did not hold it against them, because at that time God had not expressed much truth, much less had He expressed the truth concerning the incarnation. In that context, God did not condemn people for having these notions, ideas, and views about Him. Whether you regard God as a prophet or as a spiritual figure, you absolutely must not regard God as your enemy or scrutinize Him and treat Him with hostility as though He were a sinner. God does not condemn you for not knowing Him, nor does He hold this against you, but if you are certain that He is God’s incarnate flesh and you are still hostile toward Him, the nature of this is serious. No matter how normal and practical God’s incarnate flesh is, and no matter how much He does not align with man’s notions, does not align with man’s requirements, you must be certain that these things are not corruption, and that they are not negative things. If you cannot accept these things, that is fine; I will not force you to do so. But do not be hostile toward Him, do not be antagonistic toward Him, and do not scrutinize Him. You must have a heart that seeks the truth, have a mindset of accepting positive things, and have a mindset of submission to God. At the very least, do not scrutinize Him, do not despise Him, and do not be hostile toward Him. Then, gradually seek the truth, resolve your problems bit by bit, find your proper place, and take your proper place as a created being to resolve your problems in this regard. You must remember this in your heart: The One you follow now is Christ, is God’s incarnate flesh, is the embodiment of God on earth, and is God’s expression on earth; what you are to pursue is the truth, and what you are to attain is salvation; the One you follow is not a great or famous person, not a politician, nor a superhuman, much less a prophet or apostle; and any notion or imagining you have about Him, as well as any demand related to your notions and imaginings that does not align with the truth, are wrong, and you should resolve these errors, and you should let them go. God’s incarnate flesh is not a prophet, an apostle, or a spiritual figure. Then is He your leader? (No.) Why do you say so? (God is God; God is the Creator. Leaders do the duty of man.) Leaders do the duty of leading the church—does the incarnate God do this duty? (No, God expresses the truth and supplies the truth; He is performing His ministry.) Leaders and workers do the duty of leading the church, while the incarnate God does God’s own management work. You understand this point, right? (Yes.) I fellowship on all this to tell you that you should rectify your relationship with the incarnate God. He is not your superior, not your supervisor, not your boss; He is not your doctor, much less your teacher or professor; and, of course, He is not your leader. He is God’s incarnate flesh. What He does is God’s own work, and He represents God Himself. Therefore, the work He does is not the work of a superior or boss. He does not engage in any professional or technical work, He does not run factories or set up institutions, nor does He gather together any kind of group among people. What He does is God’s own management work—expressing the truth to save mankind. That is, the truths He expresses and the work He does are the work of saving mankind, and they involve God’s management. He is not a spiritual figure, prophet, or apostle raised up by God during a certain period of a certain age, but rather God’s incarnate flesh. He is the One who opens up the age, who leads man into the next age, and He represents God’s disposition and essence in this age. Having fellowshipped this, quite a few of your notions and imaginings about God’s incarnate flesh have been resolved, haven’t they? (Yes.) God’s incarnate flesh does the work of an age, not the work of a certain period; therefore, He is not the leader of mankind, nor the leader of a certain period, a certain ethnicity, or a certain regional church. He does the work of saving mankind. The work He does involves God’s management; it does not involve the general affairs, administration, personnel, work, or church life of any particular church. Therefore, He is not a leader of man, right? (Yes.)

How to treat God’s incarnate flesh, and how to resolve man’s notions about the incarnate God, is a crucial truth that man must understand. We have mainly been fellowshipping on the truth and resolving the various notions and imaginings man has in his treatment of the incarnate God, as well as the various corrupt dispositions he reveals. What aspects have we mainly fellowshipped on? Summarize them. (The first aspect is that man must accept the ordinariness, normality, and practicality of God’s incarnate flesh, and let go of his requirement that the incarnate God be great and extraordinary. The second aspect is that man must realize that when God becomes flesh and comes to earth, He is not engaging in human enterprises, He is not pursuing a profession among mankind or starting some kind of movement, and He is not acting as a politician. Rather, He is carrying out God’s own management, managing God’s work of saving mankind. The third aspect is that man must put himself in his proper place and treat the incarnate God from the place and perspective of a created being. Man should not always be on guard against, speculate about, scrutinize, or be hostile toward God, judging the incarnate God as if He were a sinner; this is a path of courting death.) If we did not fellowship on these aspects, would you be able to understand them just by pondering and experiencing them yourselves? (We would only be able to understand some superficial doctrines, and what we could experience would be quite limited.) These words had to be spoken more clearly and plainly; any other approach would not do, as you would not be able to experience or appreciate them yourselves. How many items were just summarized in total? (Three.) There is one more item. Let us continue our fellowship.

What if, after I have fellowshipped on this content, you still cannot let go of your notions about the incarnate God? Is this something that happens? (Yes.) Since it does, we should fellowship on it. Some people have listened to many sermons, and have also listened to the truths regarding the incarnation, but they still cannot let go of their notions about the incarnate God. There is a path to resolving this. If you still harbor many notions and imaginings about the incarnate God, and still have many unreasonable demands of Him—demands that you perhaps feel are very proper and very reasonable—and if you constantly cling to your fallacious thoughts and views and cannot let them go, nor are you willing to let them go, then what should you do? The solution is very simple: You should just focus on listening to the truths He expresses, and not think too much about or scrutinize this ordinary person. For example, what He looks like, how old He is, what His personality is like, what His humanity is like, what His everyday routine is like, and so on—set all these various aspects of Him, of this person, aside for now and adopt a reserved attitude, and first accept that He is the practical God incarnate. Although you may have many notions, disregard them for now. Disregarding them is a passive attitude. What, then, is a proactive method of practice? It is taking all your energy and putting it into all the sermons and fellowships, and putting it into God’s words, and seeking the truth from these things to achieve an understanding of the truth. As for this person, the incarnate God, do not scrutinize Him. Even if you scrutinize Him to the very end, you will gain nothing from it. If you cannot accept this person, the incarnate God, then closely examine and earnestly read these words He expresses, and see whether the words He speaks are helpful and whether they are beneficial to you; whether they can purify you and save you; and whether they expose your religious notions, your notions and imaginings about God, your rebelliousness against God, and your various corrupt dispositions. If these words do expose such things, then consider: Can you relate them to yourself? Is it your problems that are being exposed? Is the exposure factual? When you discover that the exposure is indeed factual, and you accept these words, and you acknowledge that you have corruption, and acknowledge that—whether it is a state or a certain kind of disposition that these words expose—these words are correct and point to a problem that you have, then do not give up, but keep on reading. Once you finish reading and realize that you have corrupt dispositions and harbor hostility and rebelliousness toward God, then see whether there is a path to resolving these things, and figure out how you should resolve them. First, look for the positive thoughts and views within these words spoken by God to resolve your fallacious thoughts and views and your corrupt dispositions. If you cannot find them yourself, you can ask the brothers and sisters around you to help. For example, suppose you discover that you have a deceitful disposition. In that case, see whether there is a path to resolving a deceitful disposition within the words of The Word Appears in the Flesh. Tell Me, what is the simplest and easiest way to resolve a deceitful disposition? (Practicing being an honest person.) That’s right, practicing being an honest person—this is the path to resolving a deceitful disposition. After finding the path, you must practice. When you practice, you will discover that being an honest person—speaking honestly and having an honest attitude—is not easy. If you look back at those words of God that expose man’s deceitful disposition, you will find that the exposure is very accurate, very apt, very specific, and very profound, and that you can relate it all to your own state. So what should you do once you have related it to your own state? You should not become negative, but should approach it correctly, and seek how to be an honest person. Is there a path to being an honest person, then? God’s words mention this extensively, telling you how to be an honest person and how to speak honestly. God’s words contain the path for how you should be an honest person in every type of situation, such as while doing your duty, interacting and associating with other people, or cooperating with others. If you practice according to the paths and principles told to you in God’s words, training in speaking honestly and doing honest things, your deceitful disposition will gradually change. If you seek the truth and know yourself through God’s words and practice according to God’s words in this way, the corrupt dispositions within you will gradually change bit by bit. Your state will also change, your various notions and imaginings and fallacious thoughts and views will change, and the perspective, ways, and methods by which you view all kinds of things will be different than before. In addition, the perspective and basis from which you discern and define positive things and negative things will also be different than before. You used to see many things as positive things, but now you will clearly see that they are all negative things—your viewpoints will be completely different from before. Just experience in this way, and you will gradually undergo changes. There are also some specific matters, such as how to cooperate harmoniously with others, how to view people, how to treat people, and what the principles are for treating people—these are all spoken of in God’s words. They expose things from a negative perspective, while also providing guidance from a positive perspective. They expose the essence of the problem itself and characterize its nature, while also discussing the consequences of taking a certain approach, and they tell you the truth principles and paths of practice for resolving this kind of problem as well. Of course, these words also contain some details, including the various states in which people practice the truth, and so on. After reading these words, see whether you receive nourishment and provision within. If, instead of scrutinizing this person, the incarnate God, you focus only on reading His words and, through His words, understanding the truth and reflecting on yourself, then see whether your inner state changes, and see whether these words contain the truth and whether they are all positive things. See whether these words contain a path for human life, whether they can change your life, whether they can change the goal and direction of your life, whether they provide you with the correct goal and direction in life, and whether they can enable you to cast off your corrupt dispositions and attain salvation. Once you have come to experience and understand these words, and you ultimately gain something, then when you reconsider this person—the incarnate God—you will have a different viewpoint. You will feel, “How could I have been so stupid before? Why did I have so many notions about the incarnate God? Seeing that this person’s outward appearance was inconspicuous, and that His speech was not extraordinary but very ordinary, I looked down on Him, and in my heart I disregarded and despised Him, and was even hostile toward Him. Now, after having gained these things by reading His words and experiencing His work, when I consider this person again, I see Him in a much better light. I don’t have as many notions anymore, and I can basically treat Him correctly. Although I can still occasionally develop notions about Him in my heart, it no longer affects how I follow Him and submit to Him, and my attitude toward Him has improved.” You used to look down on this person in your heart, thinking, “Could he be God? Those words were spoken by God; what do they have to do with this person?” Only now do you see how childish, absurd, and ridiculous that kind of thinking was, and that it was caused by human foolishness and ignorance, and human corruption. As you can see, your viewpoint on this person, the incarnate God, has changed. What is this based on? It is based on the fact that the basis by which you view many things has completely changed; the basis by which you discern and measure the right and wrong and the positiveness and negativeness of things is different from before. Your basis is now correct, and you can measure some things in real life that are closely related to you, and the incarnate God, according to God’s words, with the truth as your criterion. When you now reconsider this person, you feel that He is no longer so insignificant, no longer so beneath your notice, and you can see that Christ is the truth, the way, and the life, that the normal humanity He dons is free of corrupt dispositions, and that what He lives out is all the truth reality—this is exactly the human likeness we should emulate and should live out. Once you undergo this change, you will no longer be hostile toward Him or reject Him in your heart. Isn’t this a good change? (Yes.) It is a good change. So what does this good change start with? (With people experiencing and practicing God’s words, to then gradually acknowledging that God’s words are the truth, which can bring about a chance for their lives to change for the better and a shift in how they view things. It is a change that comes from having this type of understanding.) Once you undergo this change, whereas before you might have seen someone always practicing being an honest person and thought that they were too guileless and too pathetic—that they were unwelcome in society—and you would have been unwilling to associate with someone like that, how do you view things now? Now you see that this person is honest, has a conscience, is kind-hearted, and pursues positive things. You see them as a positive figure and a good person, and you are willing to associate with people like them. You have come to love positive things, and you realize that what you originally loved and considered to be positive things are negative things, and that your viewpoints on things were distorted. Likewise, your viewpoint toward the incarnate God has also changed. Originally, you thought this ordinary, normal person was not worth mentioning. You acknowledged how great God’s words were and how great the truth was, but you despised this person. Through eating and drinking these words, your viewpoint is now different, and the ways, methods, and basis by which you view things are all different. When you reconsider this person now, you think, “Although He is ordinary and normal, He can express the truth. He has done such great work without claiming credit, nor does He put on the airs or have the grand manner of the great figures and famous people with status in the nonbelieving world. This is so rare! The incarnate God is just different from corrupt mankind! If I were following a great figure, a famous person, or a superhuman in the world, would I get this kind of treatment? Would I be able to get close to them? Would they pay any attention to me?” You see, your attitude is different now, isn’t it? You have come to terms with the ordinariness, normality, and practicality of God’s incarnate flesh on a doctrinal level, and have begun to acknowledge God. On a doctrinal level, you have begun to feel that this is a positive thing, not a negative thing, and that it should not be condemned or despised by mankind, but rather that it is something man should emulate and treasure. Is this a big change? (Yes, it is.) If you rely on human strength to acquire knowledge and study theology, and scrutinize this ordinary person, the incarnate God—if you are always scrutinizing Him, being hostile toward Him, and rejecting Him, but you simply do not read His words or accept the truths He expresses and His thoughts and views on various things, can these problems of yours be resolved? Will you undergo that kind of change? (No.) You certainly will not change that way. You see, taking the exact same person, when they accept Satan’s thoughts and views, and their life is full of Satan’s thoughts and views and satanic corrupt dispositions, their attitude toward positive things is one of despising them and being hostile toward them. Why is this? They have an arrogant disposition and a wicked disposition; they have a disposition that is averse to the truth, and an intransigent disposition. When they possess these dispositions of Satan, they despise and are hostile toward positive things, and even spurn and condemn them. However, when you accept the truth and accept the various thoughts and views that come from God, your viewpoint toward positive things may begin to change and become different from how it used to be even before you attain salvation. Then, when God’s words begin to take root and sprout within you and are about to become your life, your attitude toward positive things is no longer one of rejecting them, but rather one of having a bit of yearning and love for them. Then, if you continue to pursue the truth, and you continue to seek the truth, practice the truth, and experience God’s words, will you not be able to understand the truth and practice the truth? Won’t you be less likely to be influenced and controlled by Satan’s thoughts and views or corrupt dispositions? (Yes.) You will have even more submission toward the incarnate God. Originally, you saw this person as unnoteworthy. When He said something that didn’t accord with your notions or when you felt defiant about Him directing your work, you would despise Him. You would think that He merely understood the truth and could express the truth, but that He was not highly learned or skilled, and so you would not accept His pointers and help. Now, having understood these truths through eating and drinking His words, will you still have this attitude? (No.) It may be that you still rebel against Him, refuse to submit to Him, or feel resistant toward Him, or you might ignore His words, or have notions about a certain requirement of His and feel defiant. However, looking at it from the perspective of your subjective willingness and consciousness, your attitude toward Him already leans toward being willing to submit. From your heart, you acknowledge that His words are the truth, the way, and the life. You feel that you haven’t been wrong in your belief, and that the One you follow is precisely the practical God incarnate, not a mere person. In this way, hasn’t the foundation of your belief in God taken root? (Yes.) This is what it means to truly follow God. From following God in terms of doctrine, form, and verbal claims, to being willing to actively submit to the incarnate God, submit to every word of God, and submit to every specific requirement of God in one’s state of mind and consciousness—what is the most important part of this process? (Experiencing and appreciating God’s words.) Man must experience the words expressed by the incarnate God. You must first accept His words, and then submit to, experience, and appreciate these words. When you have experienced and appreciated these words, and you are certain that these words are the truth, the way, and the life, your hostility, contempt, defiance, and resentment toward the incarnate God will be resolved bit by bit. The more you eat and drink His words and the more you experience His words, the more you can understand the truth and know yourself, and the easier it will be for your corrupt dispositions to be resolved; and those notions and imaginings and unreasonable demands you originally had toward Him will correspondingly decrease and diminish. When you have fewer and fewer notions about the incarnate God, and more and more true knowledge, and you have true submission to the practical God, this means that you have true submission to the God in heaven. Isn’t this the case? (Yes.) Then won’t the issue of your submission to God be resolved? (Yes.)

Tell Me, is the role played by the incarnate God important? (It is.) The incarnate God is a bridge for created human beings to establish a normal relationship with the Creator. The incarnate God is an indispensable link, and He plays an indispensable role. Although the incarnate God does not report to the God in heaven, saying, “So-and-so is sincere in following You, and so-and-so is always rebellious and defiant toward You, and has a bad attitude toward You”—although He does not make such reports or convey this information to the God in heaven, the Creator, why do I say that when one has the willingness to submit to the incarnate God, and has the attitude of submitting to the incarnate God, it shows that they have submission and have the correct attitude toward the God in heaven? What is the connection here? Can you explain it clearly? What is the key point here? Can the incarnate God fully represent the God in heaven? In theory, He cannot, because the incarnate God is restricted by His humanity and restricted by the various functions of the flesh. Outwardly, He does not possess the authority and power, and especially the almightiness, of the God in heaven. However, He has one thing in common with the God in heaven. Do you know what it is? (The disposition, essence, and life of the incarnate God and the God in heaven are the same.) That’s theoretical—specifically, what is it that They have in common? (Both the incarnate God and the God in heaven possess the truth.) That’s right. What man can come into contact with is the fact that everything said and done by both the God in heaven and the incarnate God on earth is the truth; They are exactly the same in this regard. Why is it that what They both express is the truth? It is because They have the same life essence, and the God on earth—the incarnate God—possesses the life of the God in heaven, and so He can express the truths of the God in heaven. Then why do I say that when one has the willingness to submit to the incarnate God and the attitude of submitting to Him, they’re able to submit to the God in heaven? Think about it: What is the connection here? The key point here lies in the truth. (To be able to accept the truth and submit to the truth is actually to submit to the God in heaven.) That’s right. When you submit to God, you’re not submitting to God’s appellation, not submitting to His name, not submitting to His status; rather, you’re submitting to the truth. God is the embodiment of the truth. If you can submit to the truth, then you can submit to everything God does, God’s disposition, God’s essence, God’s sovereignty, God’s arrangements, God’s ordinations, God’s orchestrations, and even God’s chastisement and judgment, and God’s condemnation and cursing of you. God and the truth are one. Then what is it that the incarnate God expresses? (What the incarnate God expresses is the truth.) What He expresses is entirely the truth. Since He possesses God’s life, God’s disposition, and God’s essence, everything He does to man and everything He expresses is the truth. Precisely because He can represent the God in heaven and is the embodiment of the God in heaven, what He expresses is entirely the truth; this is certain beyond all doubt. If you can submit to the truth, then tell Me, can you submit to the incarnate God? (Yes.) The essence of the incarnate God is the truth. If you can submit to the truth, then tell Me, can you submit to the God in heaven? (Yes, we can.) What the God in heaven says and what the God on earth expresses are consistent. No matter how different They may be in form, the revelation of Their life is completely identical. Of course, this is speaking in broad terms. How should we put it in specific terms? We should say that Their opinions and viewpoints on how to treat all kinds of people, events, and things are completely identical, and are all the truth, and specifically the viewpoints, ways, and methods by which the incarnate God does each thing are completely identical to those of the God in heaven. This is something you must see clearly. Are there any contradictions between what the incarnate God says and does and what the God in heaven says and does? For example, the God in heaven has one viewpoint on a certain matter, but the incarnate God forges a new path and comes up with a new viewpoint that has some discrepancies with the viewpoint of the God in heaven—could this happen? (No.) Is it a certainty that this will never happen? (Yes.) This is absolute. Such errors will never occur; such contradictions will never occur. For example, the God in heaven loves all things He has created, and cherishes and is concerned about all things He has created. When God comes in the flesh, then, is He devoid of these feelings, and is He devoid of that elevated perspective and state, not cherishing all things God has created, not treasuring all things God has created, and even more so not being concerned about the mankind God has created? Would it be possible for this problem to occur? (No.) The life of the incarnate God is God’s life, which means He has God’s essence. Every person has life. All of their actions and deeds, and all the thoughts, views, and principles of doing things that they develop, are governed and guided by their life. The kind of life they have determines the thoughts and views that they reveal. What the incarnate God possesses is God’s life. So, aren’t the thoughts and views He reveals all related to the truth, and aren’t they all the truth? (They are.) Then this goes without saying even more for the God in heaven. Is fellowshipping in this way specific? (Yes.)

We just mentioned that submitting to the truth is submitting to the incarnate God. In that case, when someone has the willingness to submit to the incarnate God, and has an attitude of submitting to Him, they’re not far from submitting to God or from attaining salvation, are they? (No.) Perhaps some people might say, “Why do You speak of Yourself as being so lofty?” It is not that I am lofty; it is that the truth is lofty. I am not asking you to submit to the person that I am, nor am I asking you to submit to My personality, My lifestyle, or My personal interests and preferences. I am asking you to submit to the truth. As long as you submit to the truth, and toward the truth you have an attitude of submission and have a mindset of submission, then you will be able to achieve submission to the God in heaven. Once you can achieve submission to the God in heaven, you will have hope of attaining salvation. Moreover, this submission is not the submission of man’s notions and imaginings, and it is not an artificial submission, nor is it compliance to a kind of authority; rather, it is submission to the truth. Some people say, “In The Church of Almighty God, in God’s house, Christ holds power.” I say you’ve only gotten half of it right. Saying only that “Christ holds power” makes it seem as if the person that I am is the One who has the final say. I am not your leader, nor do I oversee all aspects of the church’s work across the board—how could it be that I alone have the final say? The statement “Christ holds power” is theoretically correct, but it is not sufficiently rigorous; to be accurate, it is the truth that holds power. What does it mean for the truth to hold power? It means that the principles, standards, direction, and goals by which we measure each person and measure all matters, and by which we do everything, are entirely based on the truth. Saying it’s based on the truth is a relatively broad way of putting it. Specifically, it means that these things are entirely based on the various truths and various words expressed by the incarnate God. These words contain a detailed dissection and exposure of each matter, as well as the principles of practice for doing everything. Of course, looking at the dissection and exposure of each matter, as well as the principles of practice, every chapter of God’s words fellowships an aspect of the truth. Therefore, no matter what problems arise in the church or what kinds of corrupt dispositions individuals reveal, they can all be resolved according to God’s words. The principles for handling all kinds of things and doing all kinds of things are entirely based on God’s words. Broadly speaking, they are based on the truth; more specifically and precisely, they are based on God’s words. So who holds power in God’s house, in the church? (The truth holds power.) The church is not under the say-so of any one person, nor is it controlled by any one person, much less is it established by any one person. Rather, it is established by God; it is a church built by God, and it is God’s doing. The church ultimately handles all kinds of things based on God’s words and based on the truth—it is the truth that holds power. With the truth holding power, can it be said that God is holding power, and that the Holy Spirit is holding power? These statements are all correct, aren’t they? (Yes.) The truth holding power can also mean that God’s words are holding power, and that God’s authority is at work. The church, God’s house, is where God’s authority and wisdom are at work. You see, by explaining it in detail like this, you can understand it all.

Once you have properly grasped and fully understood how to position this person—the incarnate God—in relation to the truth and the God in heaven, you will be able to gradually let go of your notions about the incarnate God, whether they are common notions or special ones. The key point here is that you must pursue the truth. If you persistently put effort into scrutinizing this person and trying to figure Him out, what is the only conclusion you could reach? You will think that He is just an ordinary person. If you come to such a conclusion, then it’s not hard to imagine what your final outcome will be—it does not look very promising. If you develop many notions about this person, the incarnate God, but you do not give up pursuing the truth, and you put effort into seeking the truth in His words and in the truth itself, then the truth will resolve all of your notions. The truth can resolve all of man’s corrupt dispositions and his various problems. Whether they are problems caused by corrupt dispositions or problems caused by human notions—no matter what problem it is—as long as you pursue the truth, they can all be resolved. It just depends on whether you can practice in this way. If you do not practice, and do not seek the truth to resolve your problems, then even if you believe in God for a hundred years, you will still be laden with notions, which you will find hard to let go of. No matter how long you follow God, even if you don’t get eliminated or expelled, and you still do your duty in the church, you will not be a follower of God. At most, you will be a religious believer, a mere church friend. Although you have not done evil, or caused disruptions, or caused disturbances, and you have been quite crafty in how you do things, without anyone catching you out or gaining leverage over you, and without you being cleared out either—there is nevertheless something to worry about: Having followed for so long, how is it that you do not have the slightest knowledge of God? You haven’t determined whether this person is God incarnate—is this not pathetic? You haven’t determined whether He is God incarnate, and you are still laden with notions about Him. What does this mean? Is this a good sign or a bad sign for you? (A bad sign.) How bad? What consequences would it result in? (We would not gain the truth and life, and would have no hope of attaining salvation. Our outcome would be to perish.) You follow the incarnate God, and have encountered this great opportunity of God working to save man, yet you have not gained the truth and life, and have not attained salvation. Tell Me, are you not foolish? Such a great opportunity—the only opportunity, at that—and you failed to take advantage of it. You let it slip away, and ultimately you, a created being, will end up as nothing. Is this not pathetic? (It is.) Since walking this path is pathetic, what should people do? The time during which the incarnate God performs His work is a special period, and for mankind it is also a very good period; it is a very good period in which mankind can know God, know the Creator, and ultimately attain salvation. However, if man, during this period, with God having done a massive amount of work and spoken a tremendous number of words, still does not gain the truth, then God cannot be blamed. It is not that God does not save you; rather, it’s that you yourself do not cherish this opportunity, and do not pursue the truth and return to the Creator’s dominion during this period, and in the end you will perish. That is, during this period you still have not embarked on the path of salvation, and wind up taking your hope of attaining salvation and completely ruining it, so regret is of no use by that time. If you still harbor many notions and imaginings about this person, the incarnate God, and you still have many unreasonable demands toward Him, in My eyes, this is actually not a problem. No matter what kind of notions you have, as long as you pursue the truth, they can all be resolved. The root cause of man having notions and imaginings is that he does not know God and does not understand the truth, or it’s that he hasn’t had any opportunities to know God. On top of that, Satan’s corruption of mankind over thousands of years has taken many notions and planted them deep in man’s heart, causing him to distance himself from God, and also resulting in his repeated hostility toward God. More specifically, it has led man to have many notions and imaginings about God, and to have many unreasonable demands toward Him. God actually sees very clearly the existence of all these objective facts, and God is all too familiar with them. However, God does not give up on man because his attitude toward God is hostile and he lacks an attitude of submission. On the contrary, God personally becomes flesh and works upon a group of people just like this, expressing the truth to save man without begrudging the trouble involved, and fellowshipping the truth with earnest and unswerving patience to help him understand the truth and understand God’s intentions. The ultimate goal of God’s earnest and unswerving patience and painstaking intentions is not as simple as merely enabling man to worship God; rather, it is to give him the hope of ultimately being able to survive, and an opportunity to do so. For one to gain this opportunity, the condition is that they must accept God’s words and accept the truth as their life, and become a new human being. Only then will they be qualified to survive; only then will they be qualified to continue surviving among all things created by God. This is the only requirement God makes of man, and it is also the only condition He has set for him. All that the incarnate God does, whether it’s His formal sermons or the words He fellowships and the work He does with individuals or particular teams in ordinary times, actually only has one purpose for God, which is to allow man to gain God’s recognition, acceptance, and acknowledgment—His acknowledgment that you are a created being of God. For God, the purpose is to enable man to recognize the Creator and return before the Creator. This is exactly the work that the incarnate God does, and the result achieved is that it enables man to know the Creator, and God also recognizes man; it is exactly this work. Since the work done by the incarnate God is so important and so beneficial to man, bringing him countless benefits without the slightest harm, why do you always have to be at odds with Him? Why do you always scrutinize Him and regard Him with hostility? The problem lies with man. You are always scrutinizing His life, scrutinizing His personality, scrutinizing His interests and hobbies, and developing all manner of notions and imaginings, unreasonable demands, and even condemnations regarding every aspect of Him. For a created human being, this is the last thing that should ever happen. The incarnate God’s requirements of you are not high. In addition, I am a person who really keeps within the proper bounds and is really well-behaved. I have never had any ambitions that concern you. I do not ask you to kowtow to Me, I do not ask you to enshrine Me, and I do not ask you to bow down before Me, much less do I ask that you comply with My every word. I just fellowship the truth, water and provide you with the truth, guide and support you, lead you onto the right path, bring you before God, enable you to understand the truth, and enable you to accept the truth and submit to the truth, ultimately making you into people who have the truth as their life, at which point I will have done My work thoroughly and completed My task. Does this not bring you countless benefits without causing any harm whatsoever? (Yes.) If you do not listen to the truths I express, but instead scrutinize Me, and even mock, judge, and condemn Me, then isn’t there a problem with your humanity? (Yes.) Are you someone who loves the truth? (No.) I do not make excessive demands of you, nor do I make any that are out of line. I never ask you to bow down in worship of Me, nor do I ask that you enshrine Me. I provide for you without asking for anything in return, and point out the path of human life and the path of salvation to you. If you still always scrutinize Me, then that is most inappropriate. It is wrong for you to scrutinize anything about Me—that would be a manifestation of having no reason or humanity. A true created being does not scrutinize God, nor do they scrutinize the truth; rather, they submit and accept unconditionally. To put it bluntly: You are always scrutinizing Me behind My back; and yet, I do not live with you, I do not spend day and night with you, and I do not make things difficult for you—just what could you gain from putting such effort into scrutinizing Me? I have not harmed you, nor have I ever exerted control over you. I allow you ample freedom. Furthermore, what I water and provide you with are entirely the truth, are entirely positive things, and are entirely beneficial to you. So why do you always scrutinize Me? This is something you should resolve, and the path to resolving it, as we just said, entails using the truth. You see, the path I have given you is very clear, is it not? Have I not been sincere enough and forbearing enough toward you? (Yes, You have.) I do not condemn you, and I do not determine what will happen to you or what your future will be like as a result of you doing this. I simply ask that you pursue the truth, and use the truth to resolve your problems. Whatever problem, whatever negative thing, be it a negative state, a viewpoint or approach that does not accord with the truth, or even your notions and imaginings about God or your hostility toward God—these and more can all be resolved with the truth. It just depends on whether you can accept the truth and practice the truth. If you are someone who has a bit of conscience and still retains a certain amount of rationality, you should pursue the truth. You should not give up this opportunity. You should take your focus and place it on pursuing the truth and attaining salvation, rather than on scrutinizing this person, the incarnate God. You could scrutinize Him to the very end and still not gain the truth; what you ultimately reap will not be the truth. On the contrary, the more you scrutinize Him, the further you drift from God. The more you scrutinize Him, the more severe your hostility toward God becomes. God does not like it when man is hostile toward Him. If you have any problems, even if your corrupt dispositions are very severe, your problems are very severe, and your notions and imaginings are very severe, but your attitude is very good and you have the willingness to submit to God, and you say, “I want to submit to God. I am seeking the truth with the aim of resolving my notions and imaginings, and resolving my hostile attitude toward God. May God enlighten me”—if you have this kind of attitude, will you still be afraid that your problems are unresolvable? Your problems are very easy to resolve. If you do not want to resolve them, then that’s a different story; your situation would be different, and you could not be treated as a created being—you would be a category apart. So what other category would that be? This pertains to the type of people we will talk about next: the type of people who do not want to resolve their notions and do not want to let go of their notions.

We have already dissected what nature it is when someone always has notions about the incarnate God, and we have also fellowshipped on the path to letting go of notions. What kind of problem is not wanting to let go of one’s notions, then? There are people like this, right? (Yes.) Some people cling desperately to their notions and will not let them go. They think, “The incarnate god is just an ordinary person. Although he can express many truths, he certainly does not know what I do behind his back. Even if I do bad things, I can hide them from him, and I don’t need to seek the truth to resolve things. I am certain he is just an ordinary person; he cannot, like God’s Spirit, scrutinize all things or scrutinize the innermost depths of man’s heart. He does not have God’s authority, and even less does he possess God’s almightiness. Aside from speaking and expressing the truth and doing some church work, he cannot do anything else, so I’m not afraid of him, I’ll just oppose him, I’ll just do whatever I want, and even if I pursue fame, gain, and status in my heart, he still won’t know. He is just an ordinary person. He cannot possibly be God. Even if I have notions about him, he cannot do anything to me. I cannot treat him as God in my heart.” This is just like Paul back then. Paul simply did not accept the Lord Jesus. He did not accept that the Lord Jesus was the Son of the living God, nor did he accept that the Lord Jesus was Christ. He did not accept the truths expressed by the Lord Jesus, nor did he accept the Lord Jesus’ identity as God. He just treated Him as an ordinary person, not even an apostle or a prophet. He did not accept the Lord Jesus, yet he still wanted to gain blessings from Him—isn’t that shameless? Some people reluctantly follow in the church in order to satisfy their desire to gain blessings, and in order to satisfy their desire to gain status, but no matter what notions they have, they do not seek the truth to resolve them. They have no willingness whatsoever to accept the incarnate God, and of course they have even less willingness to submit, much less do they possess an attitude of submission. Such people are enemies of God. They are not only at odds with the incarnate God, but even more so, they are at odds with the truth. The fact of the incarnation is itself an aspect of the truth, yet in their hearts they deny this fact. In their hearts, they simply do not acknowledge or accept God’s incarnate flesh, and they do not acknowledge that the incarnate God has God’s life. They think, “You are just a mouthpiece, saying whatever God tells you to say. At most, you are like a prophet. If God does not do the work, you are nothing!” Some people even say uglier things. Therefore, in the eyes of people like this, the incarnate God is not even an apostle, a prophet, or a spiritual figure, but just an ordinary person whom others look down on. Such people do not accept the incarnate God’s work, nor do they accept His identity and essence, and even less do they accept the incarnate God’s provision of life. Of course, it is even more so the case that they do not accept all the truths He expresses. Then why do they still dwell in God’s house? It is because they have ambitions and have the desire to gain blessings. Some people have other motives in the church, perhaps to feather their nests under the church’s wing and gain benefits of some sort. In short, such people certainly have personal ambitions and motives. We do not need to urge such people to accept the truth, and there isn’t any way to fellowship the truth to them to resolve their problems. This is because they do not love the truth and do not accept the truth in the slightest, and because in their hearts they deny the incarnate God, and do not acknowledge that Christ is God Himself. Such people do not acknowledge Christ, but deny Him; they are antichrists. Their nature essence is that of an antichrist, and they are of Satan’s kind. Such people never believe in positive things or acknowledge positive things. They believe only in status, believe only in being able to gain blessings from God, and believe that it is the God in heaven who can give man blessings and can give man a good destination. In their view, if God’s Spirit worked upon them, they would also be Christ, they would also be God Himself, they could also represent God, and they could also have God’s life, just as Paul said, “To me to live is christ” (Philippians 1:21). The essence of such people is the same as Paul’s. They are all arrogant and self-righteous, and bow to no one. They have particularly great ambitions and desires, and never take Christ seriously. They want to be on equal footing with Christ, and they also want to possess Christ’s identity. In their view, so long as God were to work upon them, and so long as they could control the church and have status, then they could become Christ; so long as their power were great enough, and so long as the scope of their jurisdiction were broad enough and they had enough followers, then they could be on equal footing with Christ and could have the same identity as Christ. Tell Me, for people like this, is there still any need to urge them to accept the truth and accept God’s words? (No.) I don’t think so either, and I do not want to urge such people. Why not urge them? (People like this have the essence of antichrists. It’s impossible for them to accept the truth and accept positive things. So there’s no need to urge them.) Outwardly they are antagonistic to Christ, but in fact, is it only to Christ that they are antagonistic? (They are antagonistic to the truth.) They are antagonistic to the truth, to positive things, and to God, aren’t they? (Yes.) God has expressed so many words and they are all the truth—do these people acknowledge this? (No.) Judging by their essence, they do not acknowledge it. They do not acknowledge that God’s words are the truth, nor do they acknowledge that God’s words can change man, can become man’s life, and can allow man to survive. They do not acknowledge that these words expressed by the incarnate God are the truth. So do they acknowledge that the incarnate God has God’s life and essence? (No.) Since they do not acknowledge that the incarnate God has God’s life and essence, do they acknowledge the life and essence of the God in heaven? (No.) Since they do not acknowledge the life and essence of the God in heaven, do they acknowledge God’s identity and status? (They don’t acknowledge that either.) Since they do not acknowledge God’s identity and status, do they acknowledge that God holds sovereignty over all things? (No.) Since they do not acknowledge that God holds sovereignty over all things, can they submit to God’s orchestrations? (No.) Since they cannot submit, what will they do? They will show defiance, and they will deny God and seek to replace God. These are their ambitions and desires, and everything they do is aimed at achieving this goal and achieving this result. Such people just want to hold power in the church, want to replace God, and want to control God’s chosen people. Their purpose in denying God is to stop people from following God; their purpose in denying all the truths expressed by God is to make people distance themselves from God and follow them instead. They delusionally attempt to replace God and they try to assume God’s place to make people worship them, in order to achieve their goal of further misleading and corrupting mankind and controlling mankind. This is the nature essence of people of this kind—antichrists—and it is also the true picture hidden behind all their actions and deeds. Since they have the disposition of an antichrist and have a satanic nature essence, they will inevitably say many things and do many things to mislead people, ensnare people, and control people. Once they gather a large number of followers under them and have sufficient forces, they will start to stir up trouble, spreading fallacies and heresies everywhere, saying, “Since this incarnate god does not perform signs and wonders, and is incapable of scrutinizing all things, it is normal for us to have so many notions about you. Perhaps one day you will stop making utterances and speaking words, you will have no more truths to express, and your mission will be complete, and then you will be of no use anymore. In that case, we will take these words and set up our own separate camp, form a faction of our own, and establish a separate power base. We only acknowledge the god in heaven, we only believe in the god in heaven, we only follow the god in heaven, and we only worship the god in heaven. The mission of the incarnate god ends here, so everything he has done amounts to nothing.” They take God’s words and set up their own separate camp and form a faction of their own, creating a new denomination. The name of the church might not be The Church of Almighty God; it might be called something like The Church of Omniscience or The All-Accomplishing Church. They take these words of God and appropriate them as their own. Would this pass muster with you? Would you assent to this? (No.) Why not? Would you have any say in this? Would you have the right to make decisions about this? (We could reject them and then expose them.) How would you expose them? What would the specific path of practice be? (We would characterize them according to the truth. By its essence, their behavior constitutes founding an independent kingdom and establishing a separate faction, delusionally attempting to replace God—that is, they want to use the truths expressed by God to win people’s hearts. This is the essence of an antichrist. Both those who follow them and they themselves will be eliminated and will perish.) There are several specific paths of practice regarding this. Let us fellowship on them.

When someone takes God’s words and appropriates them as their own, engaging in their own enterprise, how should this matter be viewed, and how should it be handled? Let’s first talk about how to view and handle this matter from a human perspective. From a human perspective, Volumes One through Seven of The Word Appears in the Flesh were expressed by this person, the incarnate God. In that case, they are His private property. That is to say, I Myself own exclusive rights to them. They do not belong to the church, nor do they belong to any one group, much less do they belong to human beings of any one race. In terms of ownership, these volumes of The Word Appears in the Flesh are My private property, and no one has the right to buy, sell, or administer them. In terms of who gets to have a say, I alone have the right to allocate them; only I have a say in who gets to read these books and who doesn’t, and whether they are free of cost or require payment. If you secretly take these books, what is that considered? (Theft.) It’s considered theft, robbery. If you secretly take, buy, or sell these books of God’s words without My permission, or use them to win over people and cultivate your own power, this constitutes theft. Theft is an illegal act, and is criminalized under the law. I could sue you, or I could authorize the Church to sue you; we could resolve this through legal means. This is because you have taken private items belonging to Me without My consent or authorization, and used them to engage in your personal affairs, which constitutes theft and is illegal under the law. That’s how this issue would be viewed and handled from a human perspective. Then how would this issue be viewed from the perspective of the truth? The truth is life, and it is the way; it is not something you can gain simply by taking the text of these books. The truth is neither a slogan nor an article; it is neither a theory nor a piece of knowledge. The truth is meant to become man’s life, it is to guide his path, and it is to enable him to attain salvation. Taking these books and appropriating them as your own is, for one thing, illegal. For another, taking God’s words away to set up your own separate camp, and using them to engage in your own enterprise, defend your own status, or acquire the things you want—you must know how God views this and how He characterizes it. The truth is God’s life, not a commodity, and God does not allow people to buy or sell it. The truth is the living water of life. Once it is reduced to a trade, reduced to a commodity, not only does God not work, but man also cannot gain the truth, and furthermore God will absolutely not let those who do such things off lightly. When someone takes God’s words and appropriates them as their own, engaging in their own enterprise, what is this in nature equivalent to? It is the same in nature as God saying, “God is the Creator; God created mankind” and mankind saying instead, “Mankind was not created by God, but evolved from apes.” When you deny God’s creation and deny God’s authority, you are no longer an ordinary corrupt human being, but an evil devil antagonistic to God. You have placed yourself in opposition to God and are irreconcilable with Him. In God’s eyes, you are Satan, you are a devil. Not only will He not save you, but the punishment for people like you will be the same as the way Paul was handled—eternal damnation! Eternal damnation is the most severe punishment there is in the spiritual realm. It means being subjected to eternal punishment in the spiritual realm, being continuously punished—it would mean the end of everything for you. You took and snatched away what belonged to God, turning it into a commodity to be bought and sold, which is something God detests. Such people must pay the price for their actions; both principals and accomplices will be treated the same—they will absolutely not be let off lightly! This is God’s attitude toward such people, and it will absolutely never change. The punishment for such people is eternal damnation. People living in the material world may not be able to understand this form of punishment. This form of punishment is the most severe punishment in the spiritual realm. Eternal damnation is more severe than being cast into the lake of fire and brimstone or sent down to the eighteenth level of hell. For such a person, being characterized by God in this way is one calamity; the punishment they will receive in the future will be thousands of calamities. At the moment we are not concerned with what kind of punishment they will receive; in short, once a person does such a thing, the consequences are too terrible to contemplate. Whether principal or accomplice, whether acting voluntarily or out of coercion, once a person does such a thing and has a part in it, they will have to pay a terrible price. God will absolutely not let those who do such things off lightly! If you merely have simple, ordinary notions and imaginings about God, God will not condemn you. God will treat you as a created being, as someone to be saved, and provide you with the truth. But once you intend to forsake God, part ways with God, refuse to acknowledge God’s truth, refuse to acknowledge positive things, and intend to break ties with God, then God will not be lenient with you. He will no longer bestow abundant mercy, and there will be no more mercy to speak of—this is a frightful consequence. Of course, if the church discovers such people, it can handle them according to the principles at an appropriate time and under appropriate circumstances. There will be absolutely no leniency shown to such people, because judging from what they reveal and their manifestations, their nature essence is not that of ordinary corrupt mankind, they have no submission to God whatsoever, and the role they play is that of the devil Satan—they just want to be antagonistic to God to the very end. Like the devil Satan and the great red dragon, such people want to be antagonistic to God to the very end. When God’s work concludes, then, there will ultimately be only one outcome for such people, which is to suffer punishment. Some will be destroyed, and some will face eternal damnation, suffering endless punishment. The handling of such people is strict and serious. Therefore, no matter what period it is, no matter what age it is, for anyone who wants to part ways with God and set up their own separate camp, and who is antagonistic to the stream of the Holy Spirit or antagonistic to God’s work—no matter what influence you have, you might be a spiritual figure, you might be an apostle, you might be a prophet—so long as you are antagonistic to God and antagonistic to the truth, then in God’s eyes you are of Satan and devils, you are part of an opposing force, and you are someone of Paul’s ilk—God will absolutely not save you! Those God saves are people who can be saved, but for those who are beyond saving, God also has His ways and methods of treating them, has plans for handling them, and has means of dealing with them. If such people appear in the church, people who always want to steal God’s words, using them for their own affairs, or always wishing to set up their own separate camp—always having designs on these words, the church should handle them promptly. Understood? (Understood.)

How many of the disciples who followed the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace knew Him? Who among them recognized that the Lord Jesus was the Lord, that He was Christ? (Only Peter recognized that the Lord Jesus was Christ.) How did Peter recognize that the Lord Jesus was the Lord, that He was Christ? (It was from the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit.) Correct, it was God who enlightened him, and it was the Holy Spirit who moved him to say this. However, for Peter himself—subjectively speaking—he did not have knowledge of God’s identity or God’s life essence. That is, in his eyes, he found no confirmation whatsoever of God’s life, identity, and essence in this person—the incarnate God. He could not see it. It was not that he first received a revelation and then had knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Although he saw the Lord Jesus’ words, actions, life, and revelations of disposition, he did not know that these were revelations of God’s life disposition. That is, he knew nothing of what God has and is; he merely felt that the Lord Jesus was a good person, and that what He preached was good, and he was simply willing to follow Him. Needless to say, for the other disciples, they did not even possess this modicum of knowledge that Peter had. Was the Lord Jesus aware of this? (Yes.) The Lord Jesus was all too clear on people’s states and statures. Then did the Lord Jesus reach any definitive conclusions about these things? Did He reprimand them? (No.) The Lord Jesus didn’t come to any definitive conclusions about these things, and He never reprimanded them. He merely said on occasion that they were of little faith, and then patiently supplied and guided them, giving examples and making analogies to allow people to understand the way or a certain aspect of the truth that God wanted people to understand. Throughout this process, from beginning to end, people did not know that the Lord Jesus was God and possessed God’s life—but what was God’s attitude toward this? It was very normal that people did not know, and God never remembered this matter or held people accountable for it; it was not a problem, and it was not people’s fault. God simply supplied people and guided people with unfailing patience, supplying them with His life within His identity as God. It did not matter that people did not know Him; as long as people followed Him, sooner or later they would know Him, realizing that He is God and He possesses God’s life, and would accept Him. God’s incarnate flesh of that time served only as a sin offering for man. Due to constraints of time, as well as the steps of God’s work and other factors, God did not take all the aspects of the truth and tell them to people one by one in that age, nor did He fellowship on them clearly in such a specific and systematic way. Therefore, God did not hold people accountable for having notions about Him. When the Lord Jesus appeared to people again after His resurrection and ascension, the Lord Jesus that people saw was actually exactly the same in image and outward appearance as before; it was only the original functions of His flesh that differed. However, people still had no knowledge of God whatsoever. They still had no knowledge of God’s life, God’s essence, God’s disposition, or God’s various requirements for man. After the Lord Jesus resurrected, He must have had many opportunities or the conditions to explain things clearly to people, but God did not do so, because people were too small in stature and they could not grasp these things. The lessons of accepting the truth and the lessons of knowing God—especially knowing God’s identity and essence, God’s almightiness, and other aspects—are the most profound things, and they are long-term undertakings. People must associate and interact with God up close, with God guiding them and supplying them face-to-face, heart-to-heart, and hand-in-hand. When people have actually come into contact with God, heard God’s words, experienced God’s words, personally experienced many things in real life, had more experiences and firsthand understanding, and accumulated all these things, only then will they have even a little knowledge of God—perhaps one ten-thousandth. As this one ten-thousandth of knowledge gradually accumulates, little by little people will generally confirm that God is the Creator, will generally ascertain that God is holy, and will generally come to know that God is almighty and God holds sovereignty over the destiny of mankind. Once this concept takes root in people’s hearts, in God’s view they basically possess knowledge of Him, and their belief in Him is genuine. Once people have genuine faith in God and have confirmed that God is the Creator, in God’s view, they are up to standard as created beings; that is, they have already returned before the Creator. You see, just having this little bit of knowledge of God, in God’s view, means that you have already determined that He is the Creator, and have determined that He holds sovereignty over all things and that He holds sovereignty over the destiny of mankind, that everything He says and does is the truth, that all He expresses is the truth, and that what is revealed from Him and His requirements of mankind are all what mankind needs, and are all positive things. God is the source of all positive things, of this you are certain, but you may still be completely ignorant and vague about many details, you may not have a factual basis, and you may be unable to get confirmation. In terms of the big picture, however, you have already determined, like Job or Peter, that God is the Creator and God holds sovereignty over the destiny of mankind, and that you are just a tiny human being, a tiny created being, under God’s authority and subject to God’s sovereignty. You have instinctively assumed the perspective of a created being to submit to the Creator, worship the Creator, submit to the truth He expresses, and accept all His requirements of you. When you possess such a willingness, possess such an awareness, and possess such an instinct, in God’s eyes you are an up-to-standard created being. God’s requirements of mankind are not high, are they? (No, they’re not.) There is one most basic condition for meeting these requirements: At the very least, your notions and imaginings about God, your unreasonable demands of God, and your hostility toward God must be resolved. God does not require you to have such profound knowledge of Him, but He needs you to take your hostility and opposing stance toward Him and turn them into submission to Him and a willingness to submit to Him. Yet people cannot meet even this small requirement. There are many people who are unwilling to accept and submit when you entrust them with doing even a bit of church work, and cannot shoulder even this much. What if they were asked to build the ark? Could they accept and submit then? Could they shoulder this task? For example, suppose that one day God said a flood was coming, and asked you to build an ark. If you were full of notions about God, you would think, “Building an ark poses such great difficulties. It will take so many years. I won’t be able to do anything else for the rest of my life. This job is more than I can take on.” You would also think to yourself, “Who are you? Why should I listen to you?” God would say, “I am God, I am your Creator.” You would then ponder, “Can the Creator speak this way? Can the Creator make such demands of people? God is almighty, so why doesn’t He build the ark Himself? Why ask me to build it? How many years would it take to build? What benefits would I get after building it?” and so on. You would raise this whole series of questions and difficulties, and you would try to bargain with God. You would not know that He is the Creator, nor would you be able to recognize His voice, and you would not have the slightest willingness or attitude of submission when it came to His requirements. If this were your attitude toward God, it would prove that you did not know the Creator. In that case, how would God view you? God would not recognize you as a created being. When God made demands of you, you would adopt such an attitude toward Him. Seeing your state, God would say in His heart, “You ought to be eliminated,” and you, as a created being, would permanently disappear from God’s sight, and your identity as a created being would be permanently revoked by God. Once it was permanently revoked, perhaps God would not care at all where you went, or perhaps He would give you a placement suited to your identity and send you wherever you ought to go. God would no longer cherish you or be concerned about you anymore. Conversely, if God told you His intentions, saying that He was going to use a flood to destroy the world, and asked you to build an ark, you would hear this and think to yourself, “This is the Creator, is it not? This is the voice of the Creator. The Creator’s commission has come to me—He is asking me to build an ark.” You would not dare to be negligent; you would prostrate yourself and accept God’s commission at once, with no intention of showing defiance, having only an attitude of submission. The details God told you—what kind of wood to use, how much time to spend building the ark, and so on—you would also note them down one by one, noting them down attentively, and writing them down on paper and taking them to heart. You would treat every step God instructed to you seriously. Even though your understanding of God was not that extensive, and even though your knowledge of God was not that deep or that specific—as you had not seen God or associated and interacted closely with Him—you would nonetheless recognize God’s voice, you would recognize the ways in which God makes requirements of mankind and His way of speaking, you would understand them and you would be familiar with them. So, when God made such a requirement of you, you would be unable to shirk the responsibility, and you would accept it wholeheartedly—this is God’s commission, and this is the mission God gave to you; you would be willing to complete it, and you would want to complete it well. When you possess such willingness and possess such an attitude, in God’s eyes, the person He has commissioned is a right person. In one respect, you recognize the Creator, and in another respect, you are willing to submit to God. You are willing to accept a particularly difficult task given to you by God, and no matter how great the difficulties are, you do not shirk it, do not refuse, do not show defiance, and do not become hostile. Rather, you put everything you’ve got into accepting God’s commission, and you offer up your devotion to God to complete your mission. In this way, when God scrutinizes your innermost heart, He will recognize you as one of His created beings. And what do you, this created being, gain from God? You gain the “identity card” attesting to a created being’s devotion or submission to God. In God’s eyes, He validates you; He verifies that you are an up-to-standard created being, and in this way you gain certainty. Not only have you gained God’s concern and cherishing, but you have also gained the best blessing promised to mankind by God; you have gained what God promised to mankind. This is a big deal! Once this major issue is settled, you, as a created being, are secure, and no longer need to be on edge or worry, asking yourself, “Will Satan tempt me or attack me? Will I be taken captive by Satan? Will I be tormented by antichrists? Will I be expelled from the church?” You will no longer have to worry about those things again. At that time, you will be able to enjoy all that Job enjoyed. Of course, there is one thing Job possessed that mankind today cannot attain: Job is an exemplar for mankind. You do not have to try to become an exemplar, but at the very least, you will enjoy the same treatment as Job, and you will enjoy what God promised. This is the greatest blessing God has bestowed upon mankind throughout history; it is the most tangible promise mankind has received from the Creator. Having gained these things, what more would you ask for? Among all things you are the most blessed living creature, the most blessed created being, so tell Me, what more would you ask for? This “blessedness” is personally conferred and personally awarded to you by the Creator. Tell Me, how great must this blessing be? So, resolving people’s notions and imaginings does not require them to have such profound knowledge, such extensive knowledge, or such accurate knowledge of God; rather you must take your most basic notions and imaginings, the notions and imaginings belonging to corrupt mankind, and the notions and imaginings that are antagonistic to God, and resolve them. You must also let go of all the notions and imaginings, and unreasonable demands of God, that affect your submission to the incarnate God and affect your submission to the truth. First let them go, and then gradually resolve them. When the day comes that you have taken these problems and resolved them using the truth, and you have come before God, you will be secure and will no longer be taken captive by Satan. Those notions and imaginings, and those unreasonable demands of God—whether directed at the incarnate God, directed at God’s Spirit, or directed at the God in heaven—are in any case a chasm that stands between you and God, as well as the greatest obstacle standing in the way of your knowing God. Of course, it is all the more the case that they are the greatest difficulty standing in the way of you submitting to the truth and submitting to God and thereby attaining salvation. Once this difficulty is resolved, and you then enter into the truth step by step and bit by bit, resolving every aspect of your corrupt dispositions, the difficulties you face as a created being will all be resolved. When all is said and done, what is the most crucial issue? A created being must take their proper place as a created being. Why is a created being called a created being? Because it is a living creature made by the Creator. Since you are a living creature made by the Creator, you should unconditionally submit to the Creator and submit to the truth; only then can you gain the Creator’s recognition. What is the first hurdle in gaining the Creator’s recognition? It is taking your proper place as a created being and establishing a relationship with the Creator. You are someone who follows God; you are not a bystander. You are God’s created being; you are not Satan, you are not any other living creature. Your responsibility is to submit to the Creator’s words and submit to the Creator’s sovereignty and arrangements. This is your responsibility and obligation, and it is what you should pursue as well. If you are to attain salvation, and if you wish to be able to recognize the Creator and gain the Creator’s recognition, you must first establish a relationship with God, right? (Yes.)

What problems need to be resolved for you to establish a relationship with God? (We need to take our proper place as created beings.) How can you take your proper place as created beings? (By acknowledging that we are created beings and letting go of our notions and imaginings about God.) By letting go of your notions and imaginings about God, and by consciously and proactively submitting to God and submitting to the truth; with this awareness your attitude and mindset will be rectified, your relationship with God will gradually become normal, and a relationship will be established between you and God. This is easy to say, but not so easy to do. Now, no matter how many difficulties there are, seek the truth to resolve them one by one. Without you realizing it, your problems and difficulties will gradually decrease, your notions about God will dwindle, and the conflicts and problems between you and God will become fewer and fewer. Upon reaching this point, would you say your relationship with God is becoming closer, or more distant? (Closer.) What good results, then, will a closer relationship with God yield? (Peace and a sense of groundedness in our hearts.) This is what you might feel. Specifically, you will be able to see the things you encounter in your daily life a bit more clearly. You will become increasingly clear in your heart about which things come from God and which things come from human will, what God requires of you in the things you encounter, what you should do, and what the direction, goals, and principles for doing these things are. This is the good result that frequently drawing near to God and having a normal relationship with Him is reflected in. If your relationship with God is distant, and you do not pray to God or seek the truth when encountering issues, then the things that happen in your daily life will become hazy to you and you will be unable to see them clearly. You will not know which things come from God’s sovereignty and are positive, nor will you know which things come from Satan and are Satan’s temptations and disturbances; you will be unable to discern these things clearly. This is one aspect of the matter. In addition, when faced with God’s requirements, God’s trials, or the environments He sets up, you will not have a path for how to treat them; everything before you will be pitch-dark. But if you have a close relationship with God, and you are willing to eat and drink God’s words and willing to work hard to seek within them, God will allow you to gain enlightenment and illumination from His words. The path ahead of you will become clear; when encountering issues, you will not be muddled, and you will have a path of practice. You might not understand certain things for a day or two, but after three to five days, the principles will gradually become apparent and clear to you, and you will know how to practice. Doesn’t this way of doing things seem quite good to you? (Yes.) For you, having a clear path is a good thing. The clearer your path is, the more things you experience, and the more you grasp the truth principles, the more you will gain, right? As you gain more, won’t your ability to discern positive things and negative things become stronger? (Yes.) When your ability to discern positive and negative things grows stronger, the principles for what to do when you encounter issues will become clear. Once the principles are clear, you will not take detours or easily cause disruptions and disturbances, and you will progress quickly. Will you not thereby draw closer and closer to attaining salvation? (Yes.) Suppose that one does not pursue the truth, and always has a distant relationship with God; they are often in the dark in their heart, and they do not know the direction in which to proceed. When they encounter issues, they do not know whether they come from God or from man, whether they are orchestrated by God or are disturbances caused by people; they do not know by which principles they should approach these issues, or how they should practice. They become confused when issues arise. Sometimes they unwittingly play the role of Satan and do things that cause disruptions and disturbances, and when they are dealt with afterward, it is too late for regrets. See, you have taken the wrong path, haven’t you? You have done something wrong, violated the principles, disrupted and disturbed the church’s work, and been dealt with. When you reflect on yourself afterward, you don’t have any enlightenment or illumination, and the Holy Spirit is not at work in you; in your mind and in your heart it is all a tangled mess. Why is it a tangled mess? Satan is calling the shots within you and God no longer works on you, so you appear particularly pitiful and don’t have a path to follow. No matter what you encounter, you do not know how to approach it. Going forward is wrong, as is going back; going left is wrong, as is going right. You do not even know how to act correctly. You fear you’ll make a mistake if you act one way, and you fear you’ll make a mistake if you act another way, so you simply do nothing. Will doing nothing ultimately produce any results? Will it allow you to gain anything? When so many things happen to you and you do not know what to do, tell Me, can you still gain anything? Can you still have experiences? What does not having experiences mean? It means you are not living under the leading of God’s words, you have not gained the truth, and you have not derived the truth principles concerning anything. When could the truth become your life, then? If the truth can never become your life, cannot be brought into real life for you to practice and experience, and you never have any personal encounters with the truth, then when will you be able to attain salvation? Will you still have any hope of attaining salvation? (No.)

Having fellowshipped on this so much, do you now understand how you ultimately should practice to establish a relationship with God? (We must take our proper place as created beings, let go of our notions and misunderstandings about God, have the willingness to submit to God, and eventually be able to submit to God unconditionally. We must proactively strive toward these goals.) You must have this kind of mindset. It may be somewhat difficult when you first start practicing. It may not go very smoothly, and you may do things rather clumsily and strenuously. When you encounter these difficulties, do not become weak, do not become negative, and do not lose heart. Continue to practice. As long as your path is correct and as long as you have the willingness to submit, sooner or later you will find that God is personally guiding you. You must have a mindset of submitting to God and a mindset of pursuing the truth, you must have the willingness to proactively submit to God, and you must not oppose Him. Even if God blesses other people but does not bless you, or He clearly enlightens and leads other people but does not enlighten and lead you, or He promotes other people but does not promote you, you should not be angry or jealous. Why not? Because God has His purpose in acting this way, and there is significance to it. God has the freedom to act however He wishes. You must never forget that you are a created being. You cannot make unreasonable demands of God. If God uses other people and does not use you, and does not have you serve as a leader, then just be an ordinary follower; all you need to do is submit to God. It may be that you are unable to shoulder the church’s work because your caliber falls short, or it may be that you simply do not possess the required stature. Once you are asked to take on the work, if God gives you more enlightenment than other people, it will easily fuel your arrogant disposition. Thus, the fact that God does not enlighten you or have you serve as a leader is a protection for you; you have to understand God’s painstaking intentions in this. God absolutely does not harbor ulterior motives toward you; rather, He has painstaking intentions. You must have submission to God; even if you do not understand, you should submit, and you should submit to the very end. Some people might say that submitting like this is very foolish and very obtuse, and that it leaves you without any dignity or human rights, to which you should say, “I will submit anyway!” It’s just like how some believers are threatened by evil people: “If you believe in God, I will report you to the government and have you arrested!” to which the believers say, “I will believe anyway!” Your submission to God must contain this sort of drive. Why must you submit in this way? Only when you practice submission in this way can your willingness to submit to God become the reality and action of submitting to God. Even if there are many truths you do not understand, even if there are many matters in which you do not understand the principles of practice and do not understand God’s intentions, and you don’t have much knowledge of God, if you can practice submitting in real life and in the course of doing your duty, then your willingness will gradually become your reality, what you live out, and what you reveal. When you let go of your ambitions, desires, and competitiveness, rebel against things like your arrogant disposition, and your personal interests and hobbies, and you submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangements, then in God’s view, you do not just have the willingness to submit to God and the attitude of submitting to God, but you have the reality of submitting to God. Perhaps one day, when God sees that your stature is adequate, and that you can bear His gracious treatment and special protection, or His special enlightenment and guidance, He will then do some special work on you. For some people on whom God does special work, it may be that, in God’s view, they possess the up-to-standard humanity He requires, or it may be that they possess the caliber He requires, or He may view their pursuit as appropriate, or there may be something about them that He can use, and He does some work on these people—that is God’s choice. God has His freedom in how He acts, but some people do not have any reason and always make demands of God. They say, “God is not righteous. Why does He let that person stand out and be seen? Why does He use them and not me?” If you were used, could you do the work well? You always want to stand out and be seen, and show off; if you were used, it would only serve to fuel your corrupt dispositions. Whomever God’s house uses or does not use is based on the truth principles. When you find yourself in this situation, you must submit and must seek the truth. If, through seeking the truth, reflecting on yourself, and dissecting yourself, you see that you still have a great desire and ambition for status and prestige, then you should realize that it is completely reasonable for God to use other people and not use you, and that it is a protection for you. Regardless of whether it accords with your notions, and regardless of whether you can accept it, in any case, you should assume the perspective and place of a created being and adopt an attitude of submission, or at least have the willingness to submit. What does the willingness to submit refer to? It refers to this: “Regardless of what has or has not happened to me, I must first ready my heart. I must be able to accept and face everything with a heart of submission to God. This is the reason I ought to have, the practice I ought to engage in, and it is also the attitude I ought to have toward the Creator as a created being.” This is the willingness to submit. Once you have this willingness, it will be less difficult to submit to God when things happen to you. Is this not a protection for you? (Yes.) With this protection, you will make far fewer mistakes and take far fewer detours. It will prevent you from causing disruptions and disturbances, prevent you from pushing yourself to the front, and at the same time prevent you from assuming a place of superiority and acting in an arbitrary and unilateral manner. This in turn prevents you from committing many transgressions, and prevents you from committing many evil deeds that are condemned by God. In this way, when one day you understand the truth, truly know yourself, are able to do your duty normally, and possess many good deeds, your stature will have grown bit by bit, and you will be less likely to take wrong turns or make mistakes. That is, when you do things, you will be less likely to cause disruptions and disturbances, act arbitrarily and unilaterally, or recklessly commit misdeeds, and less likely to do bad things and commit evil. Won’t you then be less likely to be punished in the future? Is this not a good thing? (Yes.) Therefore, no matter what the path ahead is like, and no matter what environments God sets up for you, you should first prepare a willingness to submit, and let go of your unreasonable demands of God and your notions and imaginings about God. You should first deny yourself, let go of your notions and imaginings, and have the willingness to submit. These are the thoughts and views you ought to possess as a created being, and this is also the attitude toward the Creator that a created being ought to possess. Once you possess an attitude of submission, in God’s view there is still hope for you as a created being, and you possess one basic condition for being perfected. Only in this way will God gradually do the work of perfection on you, enlightening you and illuminating you, or chastening and disciplining you, trying you, or giving you heavy burdens to shoulder; only in this way will this work of perfection gradually be carried out.

Now let us summarize: What is the most basic practice for letting go of notions and imaginings about the incarnate God? (Having the willingness to submit to God.) First, you must have the willingness to submit to God. Submitting to God is crucial, and it is not easy to put this into practice at the beginning. You must first possess the willingness to submit, and in your awareness or in your mood and state of mind, you must have the resolve to submit to God. Once you have this resolve, you should then gradually turn it into practice. In this way, you are gradually moving toward the position of a created being. Originally, you believed in God from the perspective and position of a corrupt human being, of Satan’s ilk, of Satan’s descendant, of a force hostile to God, and of God’s adversary. You were antagonistic to God, and you always scrutinized God. This is clearly not the attitude a created being should have. So from today onward, you must assume the perspective and stance of being willing to submit to God, and you must have this kind of attitude: “No matter what God says, I will listen. No matter what God does, I will accept and submit. If I don’t understand something, I will seek the truth or find someone to fellowship with, striving to be able to submit to God.” When you prepare this kind of willingness and awareness, and adopt this kind of attitude toward the Creator, you have placed yourself in the position of a created being. From then on, you will no longer be antagonistic to God, you will be able to take your proper place as a created being in a well-behaved manner, and you will possess the attitude a created being should have toward the Creator. Some people say, “It is very hard for this attitude to take root in my awareness. What should I do?” In that case, you must frequently pray, saying to God, “God, my corruption runs so deep. Why do I never have submission to You? Why is there no place for You in my heart? I do not want to live this way, I do not want to stand against You, nor do I want to be hostile toward You; I am willing to submit to You. I ask You to work on me, lead and guide me, enlighten me regarding Your words, and discipline me when I am rebellious. I ask You to ascend to the throne and hold power as King in my heart, making me have a place for You in my heart. I am willing to submit to You. I ask You to guide me at all times and in all matters.” You must pray this way, expressing your attitude to God and letting God know your innermost heart. You must accept God’s scrutiny: accept God scrutinizing your innermost heart, and also accept God scrutinizing your various behaviors and practices; you must pray and let God work. When you have this attitude, what does that mean in outward terms? It means you want to break with Satan; you no longer stand against God and you no longer oppose God; you are subjectively willing to accept the Creator as your Lord and as your God, and let Him hold sovereignty over and arrange your destiny; and you no longer use Satan’s thoughts and views to stand against the Creator, and do not allow Satan to afflict you or exert control over you anymore. This means that you’ve issued a declaration to Satan, and it means that you are determined to break with Satan. When God sees your determination and sees your resolve, He will scrutinize you, and He will test you. If your determination and resolve do withstand God’s scrutiny and testing, then see whether your inner state changes, and whether your faith in God increases. If God finds that you’ve made the grade and passed with respect to His scrutiny and testing, then see whether God works on you, and see what kind of state you’re in at that time. If God finds that you’ve passed, then you, a tiny created being, will begin to gain the Creator’s recognition and acknowledgment. What will God acknowledge about you? He will acknowledge that you are His follower and that you are someone He intends to save. The mark of Satan that you bear—God will then erase it and remove it, and He will personally lead you, working on you to save you, and you will become a member of God’s work of salvation. You see, you must pray, supplicate, and call out to God; you must come before God at all times. God wants to see your true heart. When God tried Abraham, He told him, “Take your son Isaac, whom I bestowed upon you, and offer him as a sacrifice.” Abraham agreed, but God did not withdraw this requirement after Abraham agreed; instead, He observed him. When the day set by God arrived, he prepared the firewood and placed his child on it. All these actions were laid bare before God’s eyes and fully taken in by Him; God saw everything clearly. However, while this was happening, God did not speak to Abraham, nor did He restrain him and tell him to stop. God was constantly observing and scrutinizing his heart. This process is crucial; everything you do must withstand God’s scrutiny and testing. Only at the very last moment will God determine whether you are someone He recognizes. This is just like what happened to Abraham—he picked up the fire, lit the firewood, bound his son, and raised the knife, and only then did God command him to stop. It was at this crucial moment that, in God’s eyes, Abraham’s heart in offering Isaac was genuine, and only then were Abraham’s actions recognized and remembered by God. So, one cannot fob God off; you must show Him your true heart. God does not allow you to be perfunctory. There must not be even the slightest trace of falseness or adulteration in one’s true heart toward God. Do you understand? (Yes.) For any one person, this is the method by which God scrutinizes and tests them; it is the same for everyone. You say you have a true heart toward God, are loyal to God, and are willing to submit to God, but saying so yourself is no use. God will scrutinize you, and He will also test you; you must withstand His scrutiny and testing. When you have offered up your entire body and mind, and your true heart, God sees at that moment that your heart is true, and that you are free of adulteration and free of pretense; God sees at that moment that you are up to standard. In addition, only when you have a completely true heart toward God—one hundred percent single-hearted and no longer of two minds—will Satan see you as someone who is unassailable; that is, Satan cannot possibly carry you off again, Satan cannot possibly corrupt you again. Satan won’t have any opportunities to corrupt you, mislead you, or exploit you. Only then will God recognize you. This is God’s minimum standard, and this is the principle by which God acts in this matter. Therefore, nothing God does is superfluous or without value. Everything God does is fair and reasonable to man, to God Himself, and to Satan. He is able to account for what He does with every party, and it all accords with the truth and accords with the principles. God doesn’t have any personal bias. He would not say, “I selected you, so I have affection for you, and you are the one I treasure. Since I have taken a fancy to you, then even just one of your good traits can make up for all of your flaws, and you have no corruption.” This would not do; Satan would make accusations. God acts with principles and must make Satan thoroughly convinced. You see, this is how rigorous the Creator is in how He acts. God would absolutely not say, “Those I selected can do no wrong.” God would not act this way. God acts without emotion or the coloring of human feelings. He is selfless, and He is righteous, so it is said that He is the truth. Given this one fact alone—that God is the truth—all things and living beings should worship God; the truth is something Satan does not possess. Therefore, for a created being, God’s requirements for you have never relaxed. God’s requirements for anyone are based on principles; in human words, He is highly principled. In what ways does God being highly principled come through? In the language of knowing God, it can be seen through the fact that God is righteous, that He has no personal bias or impurities, that the work God does on anyone is not colored by feelings, and is free of emotions born of human will. It is not the case that God treats some people well and others poorly, or that He is close to some and distant with others; on God’s part, He has principles in how He treats all people. If you do not submit to the truth, if you cannot meet God’s requirements, and if you do not assume the position of a created being to worship the Creator and submit to the Creator, then even if you were predestined and selected by God, you will still be eliminated just the same, and you will still receive the judgment of God’s great day and His righteous punishment, just like nonbelievers. God has no fleshly feelings; He is selfless and righteous. Do you understand? (Yes.) You see how God treated His servants in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace? How did God treat Noah, Abraham, Job, and apostles like Peter in the Age of Grace? With God, in the way He treats any created being, He does so strictly according to the rules and according to principles; He does not show favoritism to anyone. Once you become certain of this, would you say you lose out by worshiping the Creator and submitting to the Creator? (No.) If you were following a human being, and feared that you were following the wrong person and being duped and deceived, then you would always have to leave a way out for yourself and always have to keep something in reserve. But you are following the Creator, do you still need to leave a way out for yourself? (No.) If you show your true heart and offer it to God, and you have genuine submission to God, what you ultimately gain is God’s promise and blessing, and you thus gain a huge advantage—you do not lose out. If you are sincere toward people, you might end up getting duped and deceived if you run into someone bad. There is a chance of being duped and deceived if you follow a human being, but there is absolutely no possibility of being duped if you follow God and walk the path of submitting to the truth and submitting to God. Submit to God, submit to His orchestrations and arrangements, and submit to everything the incarnate God says, and then see whether you can ultimately gain God’s blessing and promise. The only concern is that you may not be able to show your true heart, and that your true heart may not be able to stand up to God’s scrutiny and testing. What should you do if it cannot stand up to them? You must continue to show your true heart—do not try to deceive God. If you try to deceive God, tell Me, will God know? (Yes.) If you say out loud that you’re willing to submit to God, but when things happen you consider your own interests and prospects, consider your own pride and status, and consider your own food, clothing, and pleasure, all the while never practicing the truth, then God will take you and set you aside. He will say, “You are not worthy of My blessing and promise!” You do nothing but lie, do nothing but attempt to deceive God, so God feels a sense of aversion toward you and He ignores you. You have taken God’s heart and shattered it, and He now ignores you—is this a good thing? (No.) What does this suggest? Will you still be able to attain salvation? God ignores you—you no longer need to offer up your true heart, and you don’t need to pay any sort of price, nor do you need to endure any hardship, and there will be no discipline, no chastening, and no trials, leaving you to live very comfortably and very easily. Is this a good thing or a bad thing? (A bad thing.) As I see it, someone like this would be better off dead. When even God does not want you, what is the point of living? Even drawing a breath would be superfluous.

Alright, that’s all for today’s fellowship. Goodbye!

December 14, 2024