Chapter 20
God created all mankind, and has led all mankind unto today. Thus, God knows all that happens among man: He knows the bitterness in the world of man, understands the sweetness in the world of man, and so each day He describes the life conditions of all mankind, and, moreover, prunes the weakness and corruption of all mankind. It is not God’s intention that all mankind be cast into the bottomless pit, or that the entirety of mankind be saved. There is always a principle to God’s actions, yet no one is capable of grasping the laws of all that He does. When people become aware of God’s majesty and wrath, God immediately changes the tone to mercy and love, but when people come to know God’s mercy and love, He immediately changes the tone once more, making His words as hard to eat as if they were a live chicken. In all of God’s words, never has the beginning been repeated, and never have any of His words been spoken according to the principle of the utterances of yesterday; even the tone is not the same, and there is no connection in the content—all of which makes people feel even more bewildered. This is the wisdom of God, and the revelation of His disposition. He uses the tone and manner of His speech to disperse people’s notions, in order to confuse Satan, stripping Satan of the opportunity to poison God’s deeds. The wondrousness of God’s actions causes people’s minds to be left reeling by God’s words. They are barely able to find their own front door, and even do not know when they are supposed to eat or rest, thus truly achieving “forgoing sleep and food to expend for God.” Yet even at this point, God remains unsatisfied with the present circumstances, and is always angry with man, forcing him to bring forth his true heart. If not, as soon as God showed the slightest lenience, people would immediately “obey” and grow lax. This is the lowliness of man; he cannot be coaxed, but must be beaten or dragged to get him moving. “Of all those I look upon, no one has ever sought Me deliberately and directly. They all come before Me at the urging of others, following the majority, and they are unwilling to pay the price or spend the time to enrich their lives.” Such are the circumstances of all upon earth. Thus, without the work of the apostles or the leaders, all people would have long since scattered, and so, throughout the ages, there has been no lack of apostles and prophets.
In these utterances, God pays special attention to summarizing the life conditions of all mankind. Such words as the following are all of this type: “Man’s life has not the slightest warmth, and is devoid of any trace of humanity or light—yet he has been ever self-indulgent, abiding a lifetime bereft of value in which he rushes about without achieving anything. In the blink of an eye, the day of death draws near, and man dies a bitter death.” Why is it that God has guided mankind’s existence until today, and yet also reveals the emptiness of life in the world of man? And why does He describe the entire life of all people as “arriving in a hurry and departing in a hurry”? This, it can be said, is all God’s plan, it is all ordained by God, and as such, in another respect it reflects how God despises all except the life in divinity. Although God created all mankind, He has never truly taken pleasure in the life of all mankind, and so He merely allows mankind to exist under the corruption of Satan. After mankind has gone through this process, He will annihilate or save mankind, and thus man shall achieve a life on earth that is not empty. This is all part of God’s plan. And so, there is always a wish in man’s consciousness, which has led to no one gladly dying an innocent death—but the only ones who achieve this wish are the people of the last days. Today, people still live amid an irreversible emptiness and they still await that invisible wish: “When I cover My face with My hands, and press people beneath the ground, they immediately feel short of breath, and are barely able to survive. They all cry out to Me, terrified that I will destroy them, for they all wish to behold the day when I gain glory.” Such are the circumstances of all people today. They all live in a “vacuum,” without “oxygen,” which makes it hard for them to breathe. God uses the wish in man’s consciousness to support the survival of all mankind; if not, all would “leave home to become monks,” as a result of which mankind would become extinct, and come to an end. Thus, it is because of the promise God gave to man that man has survived until today. This is the truth, but man has never discovered this law, and thus he knows not why he is “deeply fearful that death will come upon him a second time.” Being human, no one has the courage to carry on living, yet neither has anyone ever had the courage to die, and thus God says that people “die a bitter death.” Such is the true situation among man. Perhaps, in their prospects, some people have faced setbacks and thought of death, but these thoughts have never come to fruition; perhaps, some have thought of death because of family conflicts, but out of concern for their beloved they remain incapable of achieving their wish; and perhaps, some have thought of death because of blows to their marriage, but they are unwilling to go through with it. Thus, people die with grievances or everlasting regrets in their hearts. Such are the various states of all people. Looking out over the wide world of man, people come and go in an endless stream, and although they feel that there would be more joy in death than in living, still they pay lip service, and never has anyone led by example, by dying and coming back and telling the living how to enjoy the joy of death. People are contemptible wretches: They have no shame or self-respect, and they always go back on their word. In His plan, God predestined a group of people who would enjoy His promise, and thus God says, “Many spirits have lived in the flesh, and many have died and been reborn on earth. Yet never have any of them had the opportunity to enjoy the blessings of the kingdom today.” All who enjoy the blessings of the kingdom today have been predestined by God since He created the world. God arranged for these spirits to live in the flesh during the last days, and ultimately, God shall gain this group of people, and arrange for them to be in Sinim. Because, in essence, the spirits of these people are angels, God says, “Has there really never been any trace of Me in the spirit of man?” In fact, when people live in the flesh, they remain ignorant of the affairs of the spiritual realm. From these simple words—“man shoots Me a guarded look”—God’s mood can be seen. Within these simple words, the complex psychology of God is expressed. From the time of creation until today, in God’s heart there has always been grief accompanied by wrath and judgment, for the people on earth are incapable of being considerate of God’s intentions, just as God says, “Man is like a mountain savage.” Yet God also says, “The day will come when man swims to My side from amid the mighty ocean, so that he might enjoy all the riches on earth and leave behind the risk of being swallowed by the sea.” This is the accomplishment of God’s will, and can also be described as an inevitable trend, and it symbolizes the accomplishment of God’s work.
When the kingdom entirely descends on earth, all people shall recover their original likeness. Thus, God says, “I enjoy from atop My throne, and I live among the stars. The angels offer unto Me new songs and new dances. No longer does their own fragility cause tears to run down their faces. No longer do I hear, before Me, the sound of the angels weeping, and no longer does anyone complain of hardship to Me.” This shows that the day upon which God gains complete glory is the day when man enjoys his rest; people no longer rush about as a result of Satan’s disturbance, the world stops progressing onward, and people live in rest—for the myriad stars in the heavens are renewed, and the sun, moon, stars, and so on, and all the mountains and rivers in heaven and on the earth, are all changed. And because man has changed and God has changed, so, too, will all things change. This is the ultimate aim of God’s management plan, and this is what shall finally be achieved. God’s objective in speaking all these words is mainly for man to know Him. People do not understand God’s administrative decrees. All that God does is orchestrated and arranged by God Himself, and God is unwilling to let anyone interfere; instead, He allows people to behold that all is arranged by Him and unachievable by man. Even though man can see it, or finds it hard to imagine, all is controlled by God alone, and God does not wish it to be tainted by the slightest human thought. God will surely not forgive any who partake, even just a little bit; God is the God who is jealous of man, and it seems the Spirit of God is particularly sensitive in this regard. Thus, whosoever has the slightest intention of interfering shall immediately be beset by God’s consuming flames, turning them into ashes in the fire. God does not allow people to display their gifts however they please, for all who are gifted are without life; these supposed gifts only serve God, and originate from Satan, and thus are especially despised by God, who makes no concessions in this. Yet it is often people without life who are likely to partake in the work of God, and, furthermore, their participation remains undiscovered, for it is disguised by their gifts. Throughout the ages, those who are gifted have never stood firm, for they are without life, and thus lack any powers of resistance. Thus, God says, “If I do not speak plainly, man will never come to his senses, and will unwittingly fall into My chastisement—for man does not know Me in My flesh.” All those of flesh and blood are guided by God, yet also live in Satan’s bondage, and so never have people had a normal relationship with one another, whether because of lust, or adoration, or the arrangements of their environment. Such abnormal relationships are what God detests most of all, and thus it is because of such relationships that such words as the following come from God’s mouth: “What I want are living creatures that are full of life, not corpses that have been steeped in death. Since I recline at the table of the kingdom, I will command all people on earth to receive My inspection.” When God is above the entire universe, each day He observes every action of those of flesh and blood, and has never overlooked a single one of them. These are the deeds of God. And so, I urge all people to examine their own thoughts, ideas, and actions. I do not ask that you be a sign of shame to God, but a manifestation of God’s glory, that in all of your actions, words, and lives, you do not become the target of Satan’s jokes. This is God’s requirement of all people.