In truth, all the utterances that issue from God’s mouth are unknown to humans; they are all language that people have not heard. As such, it can be said that God’s words themselves are a mystery. Most people mistakenly believe that mysteries only include things at which people cannot arrive conceptually, matters of heaven that God now allows people to know, or the truth of what God does in the spiritual realm. From this, it is evident that people do not treat all of God’s words equally, nor do they treasure them; rather, they focus on what they themselves believe to be “mysteries.” This proves that people do not know what God’s words are or what mysteries are; they merely read His words within the scope of their own notions. The reality is that there is not a single person who truly loves God’s words, and this is precisely the root of His saying that “people are experts at fooling Me.” It is not that God says people are devoid of any merit or are complete messes; this describes the actual situation of mankind. People themselves are not very clear on how much space God actually occupies in their hearts; only God Himself knows this fully. Therefore, at the moment, people are like suckling babies. As to why they drink milk and why they should survive, they are completely unaware. Only the mother understands a baby’s needs; she will not let it starve to death, nor will she allow the baby to eat itself to death. God knows people’s needs best, so at times His love is embodied in His words, at times His judgment is revealed in them, at times they wound people to the depths of their hearts, and at times they are sincere and earnest. This allows people to feel God’s kindness and accessibility, and that He is not some imagined, imposing figure that cannot be touched. Nor is He the Son of Heaven in people’s minds, who cannot be looked directly in the face, and less still is He an executioner who slaughters the innocent, as people imagine. God’s entire disposition is revealed in His work; the disposition of God in the flesh today is still embodied through His work. Thus, His ministry is one of words, not what He does or how He appears outwardly. Ultimately, everyone will gain edification from God’s words and be made complete because of them. In their experience, guided by God’s words, people will obtain a path to practice, and through the words of God’s mouth they will come to know His entire disposition. Because of His words, all of God’s work will be fulfilled, people will come alive, and all enemies will be defeated. This is the primary work, which no one can ignore. Let us look at His words: “My utterances ring out like thunder, casting light in all directions and on the whole earth, and in the midst of thunder and lightning, humanity is struck down. No man has ever stayed firm in the midst of thunder and lightning; most men are terrified out of their wits at the coming of My light and know not what to do.” As soon as God opens His mouth, words come out. He accomplishes everything through words, all things are transformed by them, and everyone is renewed through them. What does “thunder and lightning” refer to? And what does “light” refer to? Not a single thing can escape God’s words. He uses them to lay bare people’s minds and depict their ugliness; He uses words to prune their old natures and make all His people complete. Is this not precisely the importance of God’s words? In the entire universe, without the support and fortification of God’s words, all mankind would long ago have been destroyed to the point of nonexistence. This is the principle of what God does, and the method in which He works during His six-thousand-year management plan. This shows the importance of God’s words. They pierce straight into the depths of people’s souls. As soon as people see His words, they feel astounded and terror-stricken, and flee in haste. They want to escape the reality of His words, which is the reason these “refugees” can be seen everywhere. As soon as God’s words are issued, people take to their heels. This is one aspect of the image of mankind’s ugliness that God depicts. Right now, all people are gradually awakening from their stupor; it is as if they all had previously developed cases of dementia—and, now that they see God’s words, they seem to be suffering the residual effects of that disease, and are unable to regain their former states. This is how all people actually are, and it is also a true portrayal of these words: “Many people, moved by this faint luminescence, are instantaneously roused from their illusions. Yet no one has ever realized that the day has come when My light descends upon the earth.” This is why God said, “The majority of men are dumbstruck by the sudden advent of the light.” Putting it this way is perfectly appropriate. God’s description of mankind has no gap, even to admit the tip of a needle, and He has truly phrased it accurately and without error, which is why all people are utterly convinced. Moreover, without knowing it, their love for God has started to build up from deep within their hearts. Only thus does God’s position there become ever more genuine, and this is also one way in which God works.

“The majority of men are merely bewildered; they are wounded in the eyes and cast down into the mud by the light.” Because such people go against the will of God (that is, they resist God), when His words come, they suffer chastisement due to their rebelliousness; this is why it is said that they are wounded in the eyes by the light. Such people have already been given over to Satan; so, when entering the new work, they possess neither enlightenment nor illumination. All who do not have the work of the Holy Spirit have been occupied by Satan, and there is no place for God deep in their hearts. Thus, it is said these people are “cast down into the mud.” All those in this condition are in a state of disarray. They cannot enter onto the right track, nor can they recover normality; all their thoughts are contrary. Everyone on earth has been corrupted to the extreme by Satan. People have no vitality and reek with the odor of corpses. All earth’s people survive amidst a plague of germs, which no one can escape. They are not willing to survive on earth, but they always feel that something greater will happen for people to see with their own eyes; as such, people all force themselves to continue living. They have had no strength in their hearts for a very long time; they just use their invisible hopes as a spiritual pillar, and thus they prop up their heads in a pretense of being men and muddle through their days on earth. It is as if all people were the sons of the devil incarnate. This is why God said, “The disorder covers the earth, an unbearably sorry sight that, examined closely, assails one with an overwhelming melancholy.” Because this situation has arisen, God began “strewing the seeds of My Spirit” throughout the entire universe, and He began to carry out His work of salvation upon the entire earth. It is because of the furthering of this work that God began to rain down all manner of disasters, thus saving hard-hearted humans. In the phases of God’s work, salvation still takes the form of various disasters, and none who is doomed can escape them. Only in the end will it be possible to achieve a situation on earth that is “as serene as the third heaven: Here, living things, great and small, coexist in harmony, never once engaging in ‘conflicts of mouth and tongue.’” One aspect of God’s work is to conquer all mankind and gain the chosen people through His words; another is to conquer all sons of rebellion by way of various disasters. This is one part of the large-scale work of God. Only in this way can the kingdom on earth that God wants be fully achieved, and this is the part of His work that is pure gold.

God constantly requires that people grasp the dynamics of heaven. Can they truly achieve this? The reality is that, based on people’s current, actual state of having been corrupted by Satan for more than 5,900 years, they cannot compare to Peter; as such, they simply cannot achieve this. This is one of the methods of God’s work. He would not have people wait passively; He would have them actively seek instead. Only thus will God have the opportunity to work in people. It would be well to offer you a bit more explanation; otherwise, people will merely have a superficial understanding. After God created mankind and granted them spirits, He enjoined them that if they did not call out to Him, then they would not be able to connect with His Spirit and, thus, the “satellite television” from heaven would be impossible to receive on earth. When God is no longer in people’s spirits, there is an empty seat left for other things, and Satan thus seizes the opportunity to get in. When people contact God with their hearts, Satan immediately panics and rushes to escape. Through mankind’s cries, God gives them what they need, but He does not at first “reside” within them. He simply gives them constant aid because of their cries, and from that internal strength people gain hardiness, so that Satan dares not come in to “play” at its will. So, if people continuously connect with God’s Spirit, Satan does not dare to come and cause disturbances. Without Satan’s disturbances, all people’s lives are normal, and God then has the opportunity to work unhindered within them. As such, what God wants to do can be achieved through humans. From this it may be known why God has always required people to increase their faith, and has also said, “I make suitable demands according to the stature of man on earth. I have never put anyone in difficulties, nor have I ever asked anyone to ‘squeeze out his blood’ for My pleasure.” Most people are baffled by God’s requirements. They wonder why, given that people do not possess that faculty and have been irretrievably corrupted by Satan, God continues to make requirements of them. Is this not God putting people in a difficult position? Seeing their solemn faces, and then seeing their awkward looks, you cannot help but laugh. People’s various ugly appearances are the most laughable: At times, they are like children who love to play, while at times they are like a little girl playing “mom.” Sometimes they are like a dog eating a mouse. One does not know whether to laugh or cry at all these ugly states of theirs, and often, the less people can grasp God’s intentions, the more liable they are to get into trouble. So, the following words of God—“Am I the God that merely imposes silence on creation?”—suffice to show just how foolish people are, and they also show that no man can understand God’s intentions. Even if He voices what His intentions are, they are unable to be considerate of them. They only do the work of God according to human intentions. As such, how can they grasp His intentions? “I go walking upon the earth, dispersing My fragrance everywhere, and, in every place, I leave behind My form. Each place reverberates with the sound of My voice. People everywhere linger on the beauteous scenes of yesterday, for all humanity is remembering the past …” This will be the situation when the kingdom is formed. In fact, in several places, God has already prophesied the beauty of the realization of the kingdom, and all these combined form a complete picture of the kingdom. However, people pay no attention to it; they simply watch it as though it were a cartoon.

Because of the millennia of Satan’s corruption, people have always lived in darkness, so they are not troubled by it, nor do they long for the light. This has led to the following, therefore, when the light arrives today, “they are all averse to My arrival, and they banish the light’s arrival, as if I were man’s enemy in heaven. Man greets Me with a defensive light in his eyes.” Although most people try to love God with sincerity, He is still not satisfied, and He still condemns mankind. This is baffling for people. Because they live in darkness, they still serve God as they do in the absence of light. That is, all people serve God using their own notions, and when He comes, such is their condition, and they are unable to serve Him by accepting new light; rather, they serve Him with all the experience they have had themselves. God does not gain enjoyment from mankind’s “devotion,” so the light cannot be praised by humans in the darkness. This is why God spoke the words above; this is absolutely not contrary to reality, and it is not God’s mistreating mankind, nor is it His wronging them. Ever since the creation of the world, not a single person has truly tasted of God’s warmth; people have all been defensive toward God, fearing deeply that He will strike them down and annihilate them. Thus, over these 6,000 years, God has always exchanged warmth for people’s sincerity, and has continued to guide them patiently at every turn. This is because people are so weak, and they are unable to know God’s intentions fully or love Him wholeheartedly, for they cannot help but be subject to Satan’s manipulation. Nevertheless, God remains tolerant, and one day, after being so patient—that is, when He renews the world—He will no longer look after people like a mother. Instead, He will give humans retributions that suit them. For this reason, this will then happen: “Corpses drift about on the ocean’s surface,” while “in the places empty of water, other men still enjoy, amid laughter and song, the promises that I have vouchsafed unto them.” This is a comparison between the destinations of those who are punished and those who are rewarded. “The ocean’s surface” refers to the bottomless pit of mankind’s chastisement, of which God has spoken. This is Satan’s destination, and it is the “resting place” that God has prepared for all who resist Him. God has always wanted mankind’s genuine love, yet people do not know this and are insensible to it, and still do their own work. Because of this, in all of His words, God always asks for things from people and points out their shortcomings, and points out the path of practice for them, that they may practice according to these words. He has shown His own attitude to people: “Yet I have never casually taken up a single human life to play with as if it were a toy. I observe the pains man has taken and understand the price he has paid. As he stands before Me, I do not wish to catch man off guard in order to chastise him, nor do I wish to bestow on him undesirable things. Instead, all this time, I have only provided for man and given unto him.” When people read these words from God, they immediately feel His warmth, and think: Indeed, in the past I have paid a price for God, but I have also treated Him perfunctorily, and I have complained to Him at times. God has always guided me with His words, and He pays so much attention to my life, yet at times I play with it as if it were a toy. I really should not do this. God loves me so much, so why can I not strive hard enough? When such thoughts occur to them, people really want to slap their own faces, and some people’s noses even twitch and they cry out loud. God understands what they think and speaks accordingly, and these few words—which are neither hard nor soft—inspire people’s love for Him. Finally, God prophesied the change in His work when the kingdom is formed on earth: When God is on the earth, people will be able to be free from disasters and calamities, and will be able to bask in grace; however, when He begins the judgment of the great day, it will be when He appears among all people, and all His work on earth will be complete. At that time, because the day will have come, it will be just as it was written in the Bible: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” The unrighteous will come to chastisement, and the holy will come before the throne. Not a single person will be able to gain God’s indulgence; not even the sons and the people of the kingdom. This is all God’s righteousness, and it is all a revelation of His disposition. He will not show solicitude for mankind’s weaknesses a second time.