Words of Almighty God of the Last Days

First of all, people must understand where the pains they suffer throughout their lives—birth, old age, illness and death—came from and why man suffers these things. When God first created man, was man not free from these pains? So where did these pains that man began to suffer later come from? They came from Satan. These pains arose after man was tempted and corrupted by Satan and subsequently degenerated. The pains, worries, and emptiness of man’s flesh, and all of the wretched things in the world of man—they all appeared after Satan corrupted man. After being corrupted by Satan, man has come to have satanic dispositions, and so he becomes ever more degenerate, his sickness becomes ever more profound, his pain becomes ever greater, and he has an increasing sense that the world is empty and miserable, that it is impossible to survive in this world, and that living in this world is increasingly hopeless. So these pains were all brought upon man by Satan, and came after man was corrupted by Satan and degenerated.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. The Significance of God’s Tasting of Worldly Suffering

Many people often fall ill, and no matter how much they pray to God, they still don’t get better. They want to be free from their illness, but they cannot. Sometimes, they may even face life-threatening conditions and are forced to confront them head-on. In fact, if one has true faith in God in their heart, they first of all must know that a person’s lifespan is in God’s hands, and that the timing of one’s birth and death is preordained by God. When God gives people illness, there is a reason for it, and there is meaning behind it. What they can feel is sickness, but, in actual fact, what they have been given is grace, not illness. People must first of all know and be sure about this and take it seriously. When people are suffering from illness, they will come often before God, and do what they should with prudence and caution, and treat their duty with greater care and earnestness than others. This is a protection for people, not shackles. This is an approach on the negative side. In addition, everyone’s lifespan has been preordained by God. An illness may be terminal from a medical standpoint, but from God’s point of view, if your lifespan is not yet over and your time has yet to come, then you couldn’t die even if you wanted to. If you have a commission from God, and your mission has not been completed, then you will not die, even if you get an illness that is supposed to be fatal—God will not take you yet. Even if you do not pray and seek the truth, and do not attend to treating your illness, or even if your treatment is delayed, you will not die. This is particularly true for those who have an important commission from God. When their mission has yet to be completed, no matter what illness befalls them, they will not die straight away; they will live until the final moment of the mission’s completion. Do you have this faith? If you do not, you will only offer some superficial prayers to God, saying, “God, I have to complete the commission You gave me. I want to spend my final days in devotion to You, so that I will leave no regrets behind. You must protect me!” Although you pray like this, if you don’t take the initiative to seek the truth, then you will not have the resolve and the strength to be devoted. As you are not willing to pay the real price, you often use this kind of excuse and this method to pray to God and bargain with Him—is this a person who pursues the truth? If your illness were to be cured, would you really be able to perform your duty well? Not necessarily. The fact is that no matter whether your bargaining is meant to get your illness cured and keep you from dying, or whether you have some other intent or goal in it, from God’s point of view, as long as you can do your duty, as long as you are still of use, and as long as God has decided that you are to be used, then this means you should not die. You will not be able to die even if you want to. But if you make trouble recklessly, and commit all manner of evil deeds, and aggravate God’s disposition, you will die sooner; your life will be cut short. Every person’s lifespan was preordained by God before the creation of the world. If they can submit to the arrangements and orchestrations of God, then regardless of whether they suffer illness or not, and whether they are in good or poor health, they will live the number of years preordained by God. Do you have this faith? If you only acknowledge this doctrinally, then you do not have true faith, and it is useless to say any nice-sounding words; if you confirm from the bottom of your heart that this is God’s preordination, and that this is just how God works, then your practice will naturally change. Of course, people must have some common sense about maintaining their health during their life regardless of whether they become sick or not. This is the instinct that God has given to man. It is the reason and common sense that one should possess within the free will that God has given them. Once you are sick, you should understand some common sense regarding health care and treatment for dealing with this illness—this is what you should do. However, treating your illness in this way is not meant to challenge the lifespan preordained for you by God, nor is it to guarantee that you can live out the lifespan that He has preordained for you. What does this mean? It can be put this way: In a passive regard, even if you do not take your illness seriously, still do your duty however you should, and get a bit more rest than others, without delaying your duty, then your illness will not get worse, and it will not kill you. Everything depends on what God does. In other words, if, in God’s view, your preordained lifespan has not yet run its course, then, even if you get sick, He will not allow you to die. If your illness is not terminal, but your time has come, then God will take you away whenever He wants. Is this not completely at the mercy of God’s thought? It is at the mercy of His preordination! This is how you should look at this matter. You might do your part and go to the doctor, take some medicine, look after your health, and get exercise, but you need to understand deep down that a person’s life is in God’s hands, a person’s lifespan is preordained by God, and no one can transcend what God has preordained. If you do not possess even this small measure of understanding, then you do not truly have faith, and do not actually believe in God.

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

Almighty God, the Head of all things, wields His kingly power from His throne. He rules over the universe and all things, and He is in the act of guiding us on the whole earth. We shall at every moment be close to Him, and come before Him in quietness, never missing a single moment, and with lessons for us to learn at all times. The surrounding environment, as well as people, events, and things, exist by permission of His throne. Do not on any account let grievances arise in your heart, or God will not bestow His grace upon you. When sickness befalls, this is God’s love, and His good intentions are surely contained within it. Though your flesh may undergo a bit of suffering, accept no ideas from Satan. Praise God in the midst of illness and enjoy God in the midst of your praise. Do not lose heart in the face of illness, keep seeking again and again and do not give up, and God will illuminate and enlighten you. How was Job’s faith? Almighty God is an all-powerful physician! To dwell in sickness is to be sick, but to dwell in the spirit is to be well. So long as you still have one breath, God will not let you die.

We have within us the resurrected life of Christ. We truly lack faith in the presence of God: Would that God would put true faith within us. Sweet indeed is the word of God! God’s word is potent medicine! It puts to shame devils and Satan! Grasping God’s word gives us support. His word acts fast to save our hearts! It dispels all things and sets all at peace. Faith is like a single log bridge: Those who cling to life and fear death will have difficulty in crossing it, but those who are ready to give their lives can pass over, sure of foot and worry-free. If people harbor timid and fearful thoughts, it is because Satan has fooled them; it is afraid that we will cross the bridge of faith to enter into God. Satan is trying in every way possible to send us its thoughts. We should at every moment pray for God to illuminate and enlighten us, at every moment rely on God to cleanse Satan’s poison from within us, practice coming close to God within our spirit at every moment, and let God have dominion over and occupy our whole being.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Utterances of Christ in the Beginning, Chapter 6

How should you experience sickness when it comes? You should come before God and pray, seek and grasp God’s intention; you should examine yourself to find what it is you have done that went against the truth, and what corruption in you has not been resolved. Your corrupt disposition cannot be resolved without undergoing suffering. Only in being tempered by suffering can people not be dissolute, and able to live before God at all times. When someone suffers, they are always at prayer. They have no thought for the pleasures of food, dress, and other enjoyments; they pray constantly in their hearts, examining themselves to see whether they have done anything wrong or where they may have gone against the truth recently. Normally, when you face a serious illness or strange malady that makes you suffer very badly, this does not happen by chance. Whether you are ill or in good health, God’s intention is there in that. When the Holy Spirit works and you are physically well, you can usually seek God, but you stop seeking God when you get sick and suffer, nor do you know how to seek Him. You live in sickness, always pondering what treatment will make you better faster. You envy those who are not sick at times like these, and you want to get rid of your sickness and pain as soon as you can. These are negative and resistant emotions. When people get sick, they sometimes think, “Did I bring about this sickness through my own ignorance, or is it God’s intention?” They just cannot figure it out. In fact, some illnesses are normal, things such as chills, inflammation, or the flu. When you are afflicted with a major illness that suddenly knocks you down, that you would rather die than suffer, such an illness does not happen by chance. Do you pray to God and seek from Him when sickness and suffering come your way? How does the work of the Holy Spirit guide you and lead you? Does He only enlighten and illuminate you? That is not His only method; He will also try you and refine you. How does God try people? Does He not try people by making them suffer? Suffering goes hand in hand with trials. If not for trials, how can people suffer? And without suffering, how can people change? Suffering goes hand in hand with trials—that is the work of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes God gives people some suffering because they would otherwise not know their place in the universe, and become insolent. A corrupt disposition cannot be completely resolved through fellowship on the truth alone. Others may point out your issues, and you may know about them yourself, but you cannot change them. No matter how much you rely on your willpower to restrain yourself, even slapping your own face, hitting yourself on the head, banging yourself against the wall, and harming your own flesh will not resolve your issues. Because there is a satanic disposition inside you that constantly torments you, disturbs you, and gives you all kinds of thoughts and ideas, your corrupt disposition will be revealed. So, what do you do if you cannot resolve it? You must be refined through ailment. Some suffer so much in this refinement that they cannot take it, and they begin to pray and seek. When you are not sick, you are so dissolute and wildly arrogant. When you get sick, you come to heel—can you still be wildly arrogant then? When you barely have enough energy to speak, can you lecture others or be arrogant? At times like those, you make no demands; you wish only to be rid of your suffering, without a thought for any food, clothing, or enjoyment. Most of you have not experienced that feeling, but you will understand when you do. There are some now who fight for position, for the pleasures of the flesh, and for their own interests. This is all because their ease is too great, their suffering is too slight, and they debase themselves. These people have hardship and refinement ahead of them!

Sometimes God will set up some situations for you, pruning you through the people around you and causing you to suffer, making you learn the lessons and allowing you to understand the truth and see things for what they are. God is doing this work right now, in having your flesh accompanied by suffering, so that you can learn your lesson, resolve your corrupt disposition and fulfill your duty well. Paul often said he had a thorn in his flesh. What was this thorn? It was an illness, and he could not escape it. He knew all too well what that illness was, that it was directed at his disposition and his nature. If he had not been stuck with this thorn, if he had not been followed with this illness, he might, at any place and time, establish his own kingdom, but with his sickness he did not have the energy. Therefore, much of the time sickness is a kind of “protective umbrella” for people. If you are not ill, but are bounding with energy, you may well do evil of some sort and bring about some kind of trouble. People can easily lose their reason when they are wildly arrogant and dissolute. They will regret it when they have done evil, but by then they will be unable to help themselves. That is why having a little illness is a good thing, a protection for people. You may be able to solve all of other people’s problems and you can fix all the problems in your own thinking, but there is nothing you can do when you are not recovered from an illness. Falling ill is really beyond your control. If you get sick and there is no way to cure it, then that is the suffering you should endure. Do not try to be rid of it; you must first submit, pray to God, and seek God’s desires. Say: “Oh God, I know I am corrupt and my nature is bad. I’m capable of doing things that are rebellious and resistant against You, things that hurt You and cause You pain. How wonderful that You have given me this illness. I should submit to it. Please enlighten me, allow me to understand what Your intention is, and what in me You wish to change and make perfect. I ask only that You guide me, so that I may understand the truth and set off on the right path of life.” You must seek and pray. You cannot be in a muddle, believing that there is nothing to being sick, that it could not be the discipline you face for offending God. Do not make hasty judgments. If you are truly someone with God in their heart, then whatever you encounter, do not let it pass you by. You should pray and seek, feel for God’s desire in every matter, and learn to submit to God. When God sees that you can submit and that you have a heart of submission to God, He will ease your suffering. God achieves such effects by means of suffering and refinement.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. In Believing in God, Gaining the Truth Is the Most Crucial Thing

Some people become severely ill—their pain is unbearable, and some even face death. How should they approach this kind of situation? In many cases, the trials of God are burdens He gives to people. However great the burden placed upon you by God, that is the burden you should shoulder, for God understands you, and knows you will be able to bear it. The burden given to you by God will not exceed your stature or the limits of your endurance, and there is no question that you will be able to bear it. No matter what kind of burden God gives you, what kind of trial, remember one thing: Whether or not you understand God’s intentions and whether or not you are enlightened and illuminated by the Holy Spirit after you pray, whether or not this trial is God disciplining you or warning you, it does not matter if you do not understand—as long as you do not delay in doing your duty and can loyally hold fast to your duty, God will be satisfied, and you will stand firm in your testimony. When some people suffer from a serious illness and are going to die, they think to themselves: “It was precisely in order to avoid death that I started believing in God, but it turns out that even after all these years of doing my duty, He’s still going to let me die. Doesn’t that mean I did my duty in vain? I should find a way to treat my illness first, and then fulfill my unfulfilled wishes, and lose no time in enjoying the things that I never got to enjoy in this life. I will stop doing my duty for now.” What attitude is this? You have been doing your duty for all these years, you have listened to all these sermons, and still you have not understood the truth. One trial topples you, brings you to your knees, and reveals you. Is such a person worthy of God’s feelings of concern? (They are unworthy.) They are totally without loyalty. So what is the duty they have spent all these years doing known as? It is known as “laboring,” and they have just been exerting themselves. If, in your faith in God and pursuit of the truth, you are able to say, “Regardless of whether God allows sickness or any disagreeable event to befall me—no matter what God does—I must submit, and stay in my place as a created being. Before all else, I must put this aspect of the truth—submission—into practice, I must implement it, and live out the reality of submission to God. Moreover, I must not cast aside what God has commissioned to me and the duty I should do. Even on my last breath, I must hold fast to my duty,” is this not bearing testimony? When you have this kind of resolve and this kind of state, will you still complain about God? No, you will not. At such a time, you will think to yourself, “God gives me this breath, He has provided for and protected me all these years, He has spared me much pain, given me much grace, and many truths. I have understood truths and mysteries that people have not understood for generations. I have gained so much from God, so I must repay God! Before, my stature was small, I didn’t know any better, and I always did things that were hurtful to God. I may have no more chances to repay God in the future. No matter how much time I have left to live, I must offer up the little strength I have, and offer to God all that I am able to do, so that God can see that all these years of providing for me have not been in vain, but have borne fruit, and so that I can bring comfort to God, and no longer hurt or disappoint Him.” How does that sound? Do not think about how to save yourself or escape, thinking, “When will this illness be cured? When it is, I will try my best to do my duty and be devoted. How can I be devoted when I’m ill? How can I do the duty of a created being?” As long as you have a single breath, are you not capable of doing your duty? As long as you have a single breath, are you capable of not bringing shame upon God? As long as you have a single breath, as long as your mind is lucid, are you capable of not complaining about God? (Yes.) It’s easy to say “Yes” now, but when sickness truly befalls you, you’ll say “It’s not easy.” And so, you must pursue the truth, often work hard on the truth, and ponder more how you can satisfy God’s intentions, how you can repay God’s love, and how you can fulfill the duty of a created being. What is a created being? Is the responsibility of a created being merely to listen to the words of God? No—it is also to live out the words of God. God has given you so much truth, so much of the way, and so much life, so that you may live out these things, and bear testimony for Him. This is what ought to be done by a created being, and it is your responsibility and obligation. You must contemplate these things frequently; if you always contemplate them, you will go deeper into all aspects of the truth.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Frequently Reading God’s Words and Contemplating the Truth Can There Be a Path to Follow

When some people fall ill, they rack their brains trying to use various methods to treat their illnesses, but no matter what treatment is used, they cannot be cured. The more they are treated, the more serious the illness becomes. Instead of praying to God to find out exactly what is going on with the illness, and looking for the root cause, they take matters into their own hands. They end up employing a lot of methods and spending quite a bit of money, but their disease still does not get cured. Then, once they’ve given up on treatment, the illness unexpectedly heals on its own after some time, and they do not know how it happened. Some people develop an unremarkable disease and are not really concerned about it, but one day their condition worsens and they die suddenly. What’s going on with that? People are unable to fathom that; actually, from God’s point of view, this is because that person’s mission in this world was completed, so He took them away. People often say, “People don’t die if they aren’t sick.” Is this really the case? There have been people who, after being examined at the hospital, were found to have no illness. They were extremely healthy but ended up dying within a few days. This is called dying without sickness. There are many such people. This means that a person has reached the end of their life, and they have been taken back to the spiritual realm. Some people have survived cancer and tuberculosis and still lived into their seventies or eighties. There are quite a few such people. All this hinges on God’s ordinations. Having this understanding is true faith in God. If you are physically sick and you need to take some medicine to manage your condition, then you should take the medicine or get exercise regularly, relaxing and handling it calmly. What kind of attitude is this? This is an attitude of genuine faith in God. Suppose you do not take your medicine, do not get shots, do not exercise, do not take care of your health, and then you’re still worried to death, praying all the time: “Oh, God, I have to perform my duties properly, my mission hasn’t been completed, I’m not ready to die. I want to fulfill my duties and complete Your commission. If I die, I will not be able to complete Your commission. I don’t want to leave behind any regrets. God, please listen to my prayers; let me live on so I can fulfill my duties and complete Your commission. I wish to praise You forever and to see Your day of glory as soon as possible.” By all outward appearances, you do not take medicine or get any shots, and you seem very strong and full of faith in God. In actuality, your faith is smaller than a mustard seed. You are scared to death, and you have no faith in God. How is it that you have no faith? How did this happen? Human beings simply do not understand the Creator’s attitude, principles, and ways of dealing with His created beings, so they use their own limited perspective, notions, and imaginings to guess what God will do. They want to gamble with God to see whether God will heal them and let them live a long life. Isn’t this foolish? If God allows you to live, you will not die no matter how sick you get. If God does not allow you to live, then even if you are not sick, you will still die if that is what must be. The span of your life is preordained by God. If you can see this matter clearly, it shows that you understand the truth and have genuine faith. So, does God let people fall sick at random? It is not random; it is a way to refine their faith. People must endure this suffering. If He lets you fall sick, do not try to escape it; if He does not, then do not ask for it. All is in the Creator’s hands, and people must learn to let nature take its course. What is nature? Nothing in nature is random; it all comes from God. This is true. Among people who suffer the same disease, some die and others live; all of this was preordained by God. If you can live, it proves that you have not yet completed the mission God gave you. You should work hard at completing it and cherish this time; do not waste it. This is what it is. If you are sick, do not try to escape it, and if you are not sick, do not ask for it. You cannot obtain something simply by asking for it, nor can you avoid something merely by trying to escape it. No one can change that which God has determined He will do.

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

Some people are always worrying about their illness, saying, “Will I be able to endure it if my sickness gets worse? If my condition deteriorates, will it kill me? I have already submitted to God, so will God let this sickness take my life? Do I need to get surgery for this illness? And if I have surgery, will I die on the operating table?” What’s the use of thinking about these things? You should pray to God and seek the truth. Relying on yourself, you will certainly be unable to endure it. No one wants to have to endure sickness, and no one beams with smiles, feels happy and celebrates when they get sick. There is no one like this because that is not normal humanity. When normal people get sick, they all suffer and feel distressed, and have a certain limit to what they can endure. But if people always want to depend on their own strength to rid themselves of their sickness and escape it, what will the end result be? Not only will they be unable to alleviate their suffering, but they will suffer and feel distressed all the more. That’s why the more one is in a state of sickness, the more they should seek the truth, and seek how to practice in accordance with God’s intentions. The more one suffers from sickness, the more they should come before God and know their own corruption and the unreasonable demands they make of God. The more you suffer from sickness, the more you are tested for true submission. Therefore, if you are still able to submit to God’s orchestrations while enduring sickness, and you can refrain from complaining about God and also let go of your unreasonable demands of Him even if you are sick to the point of death, it shows that you are someone who sincerely pursues the truth and submits to God, that you have testimony, and that your loyalty and submission to God are real, that they are not slogans or doctrines, and instead stand up to testing. This is what people ought to practice when they get sick. When you get sick, it is to reveal all your unreasonable demands and your unrealistic imaginings and notions about God, and it is also to test your faith in God and submission to Him. If you pass the test with these things, then you have true testimony and real evidence of your faith in God, your loyalty to God, and your submission to Him. This is what God wants, and it is what a created being should possess and live out. Are these things not all positive? (They are.) These are all things which people should pursue. Moreover, if God can let you get sick, can He not also take your sickness away at any time and place? (He can.) So can’t He also make it so that the sickness remains in you and doesn’t go away? (He can.) And if God makes it so that your sickness stays with you, will you still be able to do your duty? Will you still be able to hold fast to your belief in God? Will this not be a test for you? (It will.) If you get sick and recover after a few days or one or two months, and it hasn’t been revealed what your faith in God and your loyalty and submission to Him are like, then it cannot be determined whether you have testimony or not. It’s easy for a person to put up with a sickness that only lasts for a few days or one or two months. But if the sickness continues for two or three years, and your faith and your submission and loyalty to God do not change, but instead become increasingly practical, will you not then have testimony? (Yes.) This is growth in life, and this is a gain. So, while someone who truly pursues the truth is sick, they experience the various benefits brought by their sickness, and they are not in a hurry to get rid of it. They do not worry about what consequences or trouble will be brought about if their sickness drags on, whether it will get worse, or whether they will die. While not worrying about these things, they are also able to enter actively, and to seek the truth to resolve their corrupt dispositions and their unreasonable demands of God, and thereby achieve true faith in, loyalty to, and submission to God. They come to have testimony, and they also gain a great deal in terms of their life entry and dispositional change, and build a solid foundation for their attainment of salvation. How wonderful that is! Furthermore, a sickness can be major or it can be minor, but in either case, it is a trial and refinement for people. Some illnesses do not last long and people are able to endure them. While people experience such illnesses, they do not lose their faith in God, they do not complain, and they are submissive to God. Their manifestations are basically up to standard, and after experiencing it, they have gained something and feel quite satisfied. This is the case with ordinary illnesses. However, there are some illnesses which, despite getting better after a period of treatment, recur and get worse, until the illness finally becomes so severe that even major hospitals are unable to treat it, and the person suffering from it could face death at any moment. What does this mean? It means that they have a limited time left to live, that this is no longer the period when they are not sick and death is a distant prospect, and that they are instead facing the end of their days—that is, they are facing the most difficult, most crucial moment in their life: death. Every person feels distressed, anxious, worried, and helpless when death approaches them—this is the final, most difficult moment in a person’s life. The more people fear death, the closer death draws to them, and the less they want to face death, the more it bears down on them. What are they to do? … Death is the most painful thing of all, and when they think of it, it feels like a knife twisting in their heart, and they can’t help but shed tears. Before, when they weren’t seriously ill, they thought death wasn’t scary: “Who doesn’t face death? If I die, I die!” Now, however, they realize that these words don’t come easy. When death is truly upon them, the more they think about it, the more afraid, helpless, and pained they feel. But even if they don’t want to die, what can they do? They still have to die; no one can escape this. Death traps people; in their hearts, they don’t want to die, yet death fills both their hearts and minds. Can you really be sure when you will die? Some people say they’ve had their fortune told and they know the year, the month, and the day of their death. Can you really be certain about that? (No.) You cannot be sure when you will die—and this is not the most important thing. The key is what your attitude will be if your sickness could cause you to die very soon. This is a question you should ponder and think about. Will you face death with an attitude of submission, or will you approach death with an attitude of resistance, rejection, or unwillingness? What attitude should you have? (An attitude of submission.) This submission cannot be achieved and put into practice by just saying the word. How can you achieve this submission? What understanding do you need to have before you can achieve willing submission? This isn’t simple, is it? (No, it isn’t.) So, say what is in your hearts. (If I do become seriously ill, then I will think that even if I really do die, God’s sovereignty and arrangements are in this, and since man is so deeply corrupt, if I do die, it is God’s righteousness, and man has no right to demand that God protect him from death. I will also think that I’ve come to see the right path in life and also understood quite a few truths through believing in God, so even if I do die right then, it will all be worth it.) Is this the right way to think? Can this be said to have a certain theoretical underpinning to it? (Yes.) Who else will speak? (If one day I really do become ill and am about to face death, this will also be God’s sovereignty and preordination, and no matter how much I fret or worry, it will be of no use. I will spend the little time I have left focusing on how I can do my duty well. That way, even if I die, I will have no regrets. Having some submission to God in my final days will be much better than living in dread and terror.) What do you think of this understanding? Isn’t this a little better? (Yes.) That’s right, this is how you should regard the matter of death. Everyone must face death in their life, that is, death is what everyone must face at the end of their journey. However, there are different natures to death. One of these is, at the time preordained by God, people have completed their own missions and God draws a line under their physical life, so their physical life comes to an end, though this doesn’t mean that their life is over. When a person is without flesh, their life is over—is that the case? (No.) The form in which your life exists after death depends on how you treated God’s work and words while you were alive—this is very important. The form in which you exist after death, or whether you will exist or not, will depend upon your attitude toward God and toward the truth while you are alive. If while you are alive, when you face death and all manner of illnesses, your attitude toward the truth is one of rebelliousness, opposition, and feeling averse toward the truth, then when it comes time for your fleshly life to be over, in what way will you exist after death? You will certainly exist in some other way, and your life will certainly not continue. Conversely, if while you are alive, when you have consciousness within the flesh, your attitude toward the truth and toward God is one of submission and loyalty and you have true faith, then even if your physical life comes to an end, your life will still go on to exist in a different form in another realm. This is the definition of death. There is another point to add: The matter of death is the same in nature as any other major event in life; none of these things are up to human choice, much less can they be changed by human will, rather, they are all under the Creator’s preordination and sovereignty. If someone were to beg for death, they may not necessarily die; if they were to beg to live, they may not necessarily live. All this is under the sovereignty and preordination of God, and it is changed and decided by the authority of God, by God’s righteous disposition, and by God’s sovereignty and arrangements. So, even if you contract a serious or potentially fatal illness, you will not necessarily die. Who makes the decision about your death? (God.) It is God; people cannot make the decision about this fact, just as you cannot choose who your parents are, or the time and place of your birth. When it comes to the matters of sickness and death, the wisest approach is to let things take their natural course and submit, to not make choices, and to not expend any thought or energy on these matters, or feel distressed, anxious, or worried about them. Since people are not able to choose for themselves, expending so much energy and thought on these matters is foolish and unwise.

—The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (4)

Some people pray all the time when they first fall ill, but later, when they see their prayers have not cured them, they sink into their sickness, complain all the time, and say in their hearts, “Believing in God hasn’t done me any good. I’m sick, and God won’t heal me!” This is not true faith. There is no submission at all in it, and what comes of it is their death, once they are done complaining. This is God’s revocation of their flesh and sending them to hell; it is the end of everything for them. They have no chance to gain salvation in this life, and their soul must go to hell. This is the last stage of God’s work of saving humanity, and if someone is eliminated, they will never have another chance! If you die while God is doing His work of salvation, this death is a punishment, not a normal death. Those who die as punishment have no chance to be saved. Is Paul not being constantly punished in Hades? It has been two thousand years, and he is still there, being punished! It is even worse when you knowingly do something wrong, and the punishment will be even more severe!

Some people say, “I’ve always been sick, always suffering and in pain. There have always been some circumstances around me, but I never felt the work of the Holy Spirit.” This is right. This is how the Holy Spirit works most of the time—you cannot sense it. This is refinement. Sometimes the Holy Spirit will enlighten you and allow you to understand some truth through fellowship. Sometimes He will have you realize something through your environment, and try you, temper you, and train you in that environment, making you grow—this is how the Holy Spirit works. You had no knowledge when you went through things before because you did not focus on seeking the truth in your heart. When a person does not understand the truth, they cannot see anything for what it is and are always distorted in their comprehension. It is just as when someone gets sick and believes it is God disciplining them, when in fact some illnesses are man-made, caused by a lack of understanding of the rules for living. When you eat with abandon and do not understand healthy living, then you get sick in all kinds of ways. Yet you say it is God’s discipline, when in fact it has come about due to your own ignorance. But then again, whether an illness has a human cause or it is bestowed by the Holy Spirit, it is a special kindness from God; it is meant to have you learn a lesson, and you must thank God and not complain. Each complaint you make leaves a stain, and that is a sin that cannot be washed away! When you make a complaint, how long will it take to turn your state around? If you are a little negative, you may come around after a month. When you give a complaint and you give voice to some negative emotions, you may not come around even after a year, and the Holy Spirit will not work on you. It will be terrible for you if you always complain, and it will be even harder for you to gain the work of the Holy Spirit. One has to make a great deal of effort in prayer to set their mindset aright and receive some of the Holy Spirit’s work. It is no easy thing to turn a mindset around completely. This can only be done by seeking the truth and gaining the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. In Believing in God, Gaining the Truth Is the Most Crucial Thing

Whatever sickness a person’s old flesh gets, to what degree it suffers, or whether this sickness can be cured—none of this is up to them, it is all in God’s hands. When sickness befalls you, whether you can submit to God’s orchestrations or not, whether you are willing to accept this fact or not, the sickness is still in your body; you cannot get rid of it. So, the days pass all the same whether you face your sickness positively or negatively, and you cannot change the fact that this sickness is in your body. You can, however, choose what attitude to adopt toward it. So what choice will a wise person make? … When people who pursue the truth encounter sickness, do they become mired in emotions of distress, anxiety, and worry? (No.) What approach do they take toward sickness? (First, they are able to submit, and then, while they are sick, they seek to understand God’s intentions and reflect on what corrupt dispositions they have.) Reflecting on yourself in this way is correct, and being able to resolve your corrupt dispositions is what’s key, but when an illness requires treatment, you still have to get the treatment. If it really is a major illness, then not receiving treatment promptly will delay your recovery. In one respect, you should resolve the problem of your corrupt dispositions, and in another, you still have to receive treatment for any illness that requires it—this is what a wise person does. When foolish people get sick, they don’t know to reflect on and try to know themselves, nor do they seek the truth. All they do is worry and live in their sickness, thinking, “Oh goodness, will I recover from this illness? Hopefully God will heal me. If God doesn’t heal me, I will surely die! Won’t I suffer a lot when I die?” No matter what sickness a foolish person gets, they never seek the truth, and they are always unable to see through the matters of sickness and life and death. Once they get sick, they feel distressed, worried, and negative, and don’t even want to do their duty. A wise person, however, is able to seek the truth in all things. Even when it comes to others getting sick and having experiential testimony, they are still able to accept the truth and learn lessons through this, and they are thus able to see through the matters of getting sick or facing death to some extent. Those who do not seek the truth don’t seek it even when they themselves get sick, and as a result, they live in their sickness blaming everyone and everything for it, which is very dangerous. When it comes to the matter of sickness, what understanding and insight should people have? First of all, will sickness steer clear of someone because they feel distressed, anxious, and worried? (No.) When someone will get sick, and when they will contract some major or serious illness—tell Me, aren’t these things predetermined? They certainly are. After a whole lifetime of experience, many people are able to conclude that “man’s fate is determined by Heaven.” And although people don’t know what their whole life will be like, those nonbelieving diviners and face-readers can see through to a large part of a person’s lifelong destiny, leaving people utterly convinced. From these things, it can also be confirmed that everything is preordained by God. Therefore, no matter when in a person’s life they encounter anything or contract a major illness, it is fated to happen. When people eat the same food, and more or less do the same work and suffer the same hardships and exhaustion, why do some people become seriously ill while others don’t get sick? Nonbelievers say “it’s fated to happen,” so how do we say about it in God’s house using words that accord with the truth? All of this is under the sovereignty and arrangements of God; it is preordained by God. Therefore, regardless of what you eat and drink and what environment you live in, these things actually have nothing to do with when you will contract a major or serious illness. If someone is destined by God to be healthy, then even if their living conditions and work environment are very poor, they will not contract a major illness. If they are fated to get sick, then even if their living conditions are good, they will get sick all the same. Therefore, no matter what sickness a person gets, they should not always look for objective causes, and always think it is brought about by poor living conditions or work-related exhaustion—this is incorrect. Let Me tell you, all the different foods God has created for man are foods which man is supposed to eat; just don’t eat them to excess, but instead eat them in moderation. It is necessary to learn how to take care of your health, but always wanting to study how to prevent illness is wrong. As we just said, what someone’s health will be like at a certain age and whether they will contract a major illness is all arranged by God. Even some nonbelievers can tell when a person will get sick and when they will die by reading their palm, face, or birth chart, and even they believe that all of this is already predetermined. If you do not believe in God’s sovereignty and preordination despite believing in God and often listening to sermons and to fellowship on the truth, then you are simply a disbeliever, and your caliber is even poorer than that of nonbelievers who believe in fate. If you truly believe that everything is in God’s hands, then you should believe that all these things—whether serious illnesses, major illnesses, minor illnesses, or how one’s physical condition is—fall under the sovereignty and arrangements of God, and that the emergence of a serious illness and what someone’s health will be like at a certain age are not things that happen by accident. This is a kind of positive and accurate understanding. Does this accord with the truth? (Yes.) It accords with the truth, it is the truth, you should accept this, and your attitude and views on this matter should be transformed. And what is resolved once these things are transformed? Are your feelings of distress, anxiety, and worry not resolved? At the very least, your negative emotions of distress, anxiety, and worry about sickness are resolved in theory. Because your understanding has transformed your thoughts and views, it therefore resolves your negative emotions. This is one aspect: Whether or not someone will get sick, what serious illness they will get, and what their health will be like at each stage of life cannot be changed by the will of man, but rather are all predestined by God. Some people say, “I don’t want to get sick. Is it okay if I ask God to take this sickness away from me and let me avoid this calamity?” Do you think that is okay? (No.) You say this with such certainty, but no one is able to see through these things. Some people do their duties with devotion and have the resolve to pursue the truth, and they are very important for some item of work in God’s house. If they contract a serious illness, it will affect their energy and strength, and affect their performance of their work and duty. In that case, God might take their illness away from them, as God must take responsibility for His own work. Anyone who has been entrusted with God’s commission will not contract a serious illness that delays their work. If they really do get sick, couldn’t God cure them with a single word? God could have a thought: “The work is so busy right now, I cannot let them experience this sickness. I relieve them of it.” This is very easy for God. But who is blessed like this? Whoever truly has such resolve and devotion, and can truly play an important role in the work of God’s house, might receive this blessing and no longer experience major suffering from sickness. Let’s set that topic aside and talk about sickness; this is something most people will experience during their lifetime. Therefore, the kind of sickness that will afflict people’s bodies at what time or at what age and what their health will be like are all things arranged by God and people cannot decide these things for themselves; just like the time when someone is born, they are not able to decide it for themselves. So, is it not foolish to feel distressed, anxious, and worried about things you cannot decide for yourself? (Yes.) People should set about resolving the things they can resolve themselves, and for those things they cannot do themselves, they should wait for God; people should submit silently and ask God to protect them—this is the mindset people should have. When illness really does strike and death really is near, then people should submit and not complain or rebel against God or say things that blaspheme against God or things that attack Him. Instead, people should stand as created beings and experience and appreciate all that comes from God—they should not try to choose things for themselves. This could be a special experience that enriches your life, and it’s not necessarily a bad thing, right? Therefore, when it comes to illness, people should first resolve their wrong thoughts and views concerning the origin of the illness, and then they will no longer worry about this; moreover, people have no power to control known or unknown things, nor are they capable of controlling them, as all these things are under the sovereignty of God. The attitude and principle of practice people should have are to wait and submit. From understanding to practice, all should be done in line with the truth principles—this is to pursue the truth.

—The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (4)

Whether you are sick or in pain, as long as you have a single breath left, as long as you are still living, as long as you can still speak and walk, then you have the energy to perform your duty, and you should be well-behaved in the performance of your duty with your feet planted firmly on the ground. You must not abandon the duty of a created being or the responsibility given to you by the Creator. As long as you are not yet dead, you should complete your duty and fulfill it well. Some people say, “These things You say are not very considerate. I’m sick and it’s hard for me to bear!” When it’s hard for you, you can take a rest, and you can take care of yourself and receive treatment. If you still wish to continue doing your duty, you can reduce your workload and perform some suitable duty, one that doesn’t impact your recovery. This will prove that you have not abandoned your duty in your heart, that your heart has not strayed from God, that you have not denied God’s name in your heart, and that you have not abandoned the desire to be a proper created being in your heart. Some people say, “If I’ve done all of that, will God take this sickness from me?” Will He? (Not necessarily.) Whether God takes that sickness from you or not, whether God cures you or not, what you do is what a created being ought to do. Whether or not your physical condition renders you capable of shouldering any work and permits you to do your duty, your heart must not stray from God, and you must not abandon your duty in your heart. In this way, you will fulfill your responsibilities, your obligations, and your duty—this is the loyalty you should uphold. You must not think that God ought to heal you because you have difficulty moving or speaking after getting sick and thus are unable to do your duty normally, and then want to deny God, abandon your duty, and leave God if He doesn’t. If you do, what is the nature of this? (Betraying God.) It is betrayal! When in good health, some people come before God often to pray, and also do their duties a bit. After they get sick, they expect that God will heal them; they place their hopes on God and constantly pray for this. However, after some time has passed and God has not cured them, they lose hope in God; they abandon God deep in their hearts and they give up their duties. There are also some people who do not abandon God when their illness is mild and God does not cure them, but when they become seriously ill, or even approach death, and know for certain that God really isn’t going to cure them, and they have waited all this time only to be met with death, they abandon and deny God in their hearts. They believe that if God hasn’t cured them, then God must not exist; that if God hasn’t cured them, then God must not be God at all, and is not worth believing in. Because God hasn’t cured them, they regret believing in God, and stop believing in Him. Is this not betraying God? This is a serious betrayal of God. Therefore, you absolutely must not let yourself reach that point—only those who submit to God until death have true faith.

When sickness befalls people, what path should they follow? How should they choose? People should not sink into distress, anxiety, and worry, thinking about their own futures and ways out. Rather, the more people find themselves in times like these and in such special situations and contexts, and the more they find themselves in such personal difficulties, the more they should seek the truth and pursue the truth. Only by doing this will the sermons you have heard and the truths you have understood in the past take effect and not be in vain. The more you find yourself in such difficulties as these, the more you should let go of your own wishes and submit to God’s orchestrations. God’s purpose in setting up this kind of situation and arranging these conditions for you is not to make you sink into the emotions of distress, anxiety, and worry, and it is not so that you can test God to see if He will actually heal you when sickness befalls, thereby sounding out the truth of the matter; God sets up these special situations and conditions for you so that you can learn practical lessons in such situations and conditions, attain deeper entry into the truth and into submission to God, and so that you know more clearly and accurately how God orchestrates all people, events, and things. People’s fates are in God’s hands; whether people can sense it or not, whether they are truly aware of it or not, they should submit and not resist, not reject, and certainly not test God. You may die either way, and if you resist, reject, and test God, then it goes without saying what your final outcome will be. Conversely, suppose that when you encounter illness, you are able to seek how a created being ought to submit to the Creator’s orchestrations, seek what lessons God wants you to learn and which of your corrupt dispositions God wants you to know in this situation that has befallen you, and thereby understand God’s intentions, and bear a good testimony to meet God’s requirements. If you practice in this way, then you will be able to achieve true submission to God. When God arranges for you to get an illness, whether major or minor, His purpose in doing so is not to make you experience the ins and outs of being sick, the harm the illness does to you, the various inconveniences and difficulties the illness causes you, and all the various feelings the illness causes you to have—His purpose is not for you to experience sickness in the process of being sick. Rather, His purpose is for you to learn lessons from sickness, to learn how to grasp God’s intentions, to know the corrupt dispositions you reveal and the wrong attitudes you have toward God when you’re sick, to learn how to submit to God’s sovereignty and arrangements, and to achieve true submission to God and be able to stand firm in your testimony—this is absolutely key. God wishes to save you and cleanse you through sickness. What about you does He wish to cleanse? He wishes to cleanse all your extravagant desires and demands that you place upon God, and even cleanse the various calculations, judgments, and plans you make at all costs to survive and keep yourself alive. God does not allow you to make plans, He does not allow you to judge, and He does not allow you to desire anything extravagant from Him; He requires only that you submit to Him and, in your practice and experience of submitting, come to know your own attitude toward sickness, and your attitude toward these bodily conditions He gives to you, as well as your personal wishes. When you come to know these things, you can then appreciate how beneficial it is for you that God has set up the circumstances of the illness for you or that He has given you these bodily conditions; and you can appreciate just how helpful they are to changing your disposition, to you attaining salvation, and to your life entry. That is why, when illness befalls you, you must not always be wondering how you can get rid of it or escape it or reject it. … When facing sickness, you can actively seek treatment, but you should also have a heart of submission to God. Regardless of the extent to which the illness can be treated, whether it can be cured—regardless of what the result is, you should submit without complaint. This is the attitude you should have, for you are a created being and you have no other option. You cannot say, “If I’m cured of this disease, then I’ll believe it is due to God’s great power, but if I’m not cured, then I’ll not be happy with God. Why did God give me this disease? Why does He not cure this disease? Why did I get this disease and not someone else? I can’t accept it! Why do I have to die so early at such a young age? How come other people get to keep on living? Why?” There is no why—it is God’s orchestration. He has arranged things and planned things like this. There is no reason, and you shouldn’t ask why. Asking why is rebellious talk, and this is not a question a created being should ask. If you ask why, then it can only be said that you are too rebellious, too intransigent. When something dissatisfies you, or God does not do as you wish or let you have your way, you become unhappy, you’re disgruntled, and you always ask why. So, suppose that God asks you, “As a created being, why haven’t you done your duty well? Why haven’t you performed your duty with devotion?” How will you respond? If you say, “There is no why, this is just how I am,” is this answer acceptable? (No.) It’s acceptable for God to speak to you that way, but it’s not acceptable for you to speak to God in that way. You are standing in the wrong position, and you are completely without reason. People are created beings—no matter what difficulties they encounter, it is perfectly natural and justified that they should submit to the arrangements and orchestrations of the Creator. It is just like how your parents gave birth to you and raised you, and it is thus perfectly natural and justified for you to call them mother and father—this is as it should be. So, God orchestrates all these things for you and, whether they cause you to enjoy blessings or suffer hardships, you should submit. This is also perfectly natural and justified, and you have no choice in the matter. If you can submit until the very end, then you will attain salvation like Peter did. However, if you complain about God, abandon God, and betray God because of some short-term illness, then your prior forsaking and expending, and the prices you’ve paid in doing your duty will all have been cancelled out. This is because all your past hard work was for the sake of obtaining blessings and a crown; you were not fulfilling the duty of a created being from the position of one, nor did you pursue the truth to change your intention to obtain blessings or your corrupt dispositions. This led you to betray God as a result of your illness, and so your outcome will be the same as Paul’s: ultimately receiving punishment. If, when you face illness and death, you are still able to submit without any complaints, it proves that all the prices you paid and all your expenditures were offered willingly, and that you are sincere toward God and submissive to Him. Ultimately your submission will bring your life of faith in God to a perfect close, and be approved of by God. Therefore, an illness can cause you to have a good outcome, or it can cause you to have a bad outcome; the kind of end you come to depends on the path you follow and what your attitude toward God is.

—The Word, Vol. 6. On the Pursuit of the Truth. How to Pursue the Truth (3)

No one goes their whole life without suffering. For some people, it has to do with family, for some, with work, for some, with marriage, and for some, with physical illness. Everyone must suffer. Some say, “Why must people suffer? How great it would be to live our whole lives peacefully and happily. Can’t we not suffer?” No—everyone must suffer. Suffering causes every person to experience the myriad sensations of physical life, whether these sensations be positive or negative; suffering gives you different feelings and appreciations, which, for you, are all your experiences in life. That is one aspect, and it is in order to make people more experienced. If you can seek the truth and understand God’s intention from this, then you will draw ever closer to the standard God requires of you. Another aspect is that it is the responsibility that God gives to man. What responsibility? This is the suffering you should undergo. If you can take on this suffering and bear it, then this is testimony, and not something shameful. When they get sick, some people are afraid that other people will come to know about it; they think that getting sick is something shameful, when in fact it is nothing to be ashamed about. As a normal person, if, when you become ill, you can submit to God’s arrangements and endure all kinds of pain, and are still able to do your duty normally and complete the commissions given to you by God, is this a good thing or a bad thing? This is a good thing. This is testimony of submitting to God and of doing your duty with devotion—it is testimony that humiliates Satan and triumphs over it. Therefore, no matter what kind of suffering you undergo, this is what every created being and every one of God’s chosen people should accept and submit to. This is how you must understand it, and you have to learn lessons and achieve true submission to God—this is being in line with God’s intentions, and it is what God originally intended. This is how God arranges things for every created being. God putting you in such an environment of hardship and giving you such conditions is equivalent to giving you a responsibility, an obligation, and a commission—you should accept them. Is this not the truth? (It is.) As long as it comes from God, as long as God makes such a demand of you and has this intention for you, then it is the truth. Why is it said to be the truth? This is because if you accept these words as the truth, then you’ll be able to solve your corrupt disposition, your notions and your rebelliousness, so that when you encounter difficulties again you will not go against the desires of God or rebel against God, that is, you will be able to practice the truth and submit to God. In this way, you’ll be able to bear testimony which brings shame upon Satan, and you’ll be able to gain the truth and attain salvation.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Resolving One’s Notions Can One Embark on the Right Track of Belief in God (1)

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