39. How to seek to fear God and shun evil

Words of Almighty God of the Last Days

“Fearing God and shunning evil” and knowing God are indivisibly connected by a myriad threads, and the connection between them is self-evident. If you want to attain to shunning evil, you must first have real fear of God; if you want to attain to real fear of God, you must first have real knowledge of God; if you want to attain to knowledge of God, you must first experience God’s words, enter into the reality of God’s words, experience God’s chastening and discipline, His chastisement and judgment; if you want to experience God’s words, you must first come face to face with God’s words, come face to face with God, and ask God to set up people, events, and things, as well as all sorts of environments, so that you can have opportunities to experience His words; if you want to come face to face with God and with God’s words, you must first possess a simple and honest heart, an attitude of accepting the truth, the resolve to endure suffering, the determination and the courage to shun evil, and the desire to become a genuine created being…. In this way, going forward step by step, you will draw ever closer to God, your heart will grow ever more pure, and your life and the value of being alive will, as you come to know God, grow ever more meaningful and wax ever more radiant. Until, one day, you will feel that the Creator is no longer a riddle, that the Creator has never been hidden from you, that the Creator has never concealed His face from you, that the Creator is not far from you, that the Creator is no longer the One that you can only long for day and night but not perceive with your senses, that He is really and truly standing guard by your side, and that He is supplying your life, and controlling your destiny. You will feel that He is not on the remote horizon, nor has He secreted Himself high up in the clouds, that He is right by your side, holding sovereignty over your all, and that He is your everything and your one and only. Such a God allows you to love and adore Him from the heart, feel attached to Him, be close to Him, admire Him, fear to lose Him, and be unwilling to forsake Him any longer, rebel against Him any longer, or any longer to evade Him or put Him at a distance. All you want is to be considerate of Him, you only wish to submit to Him, requite all that He gives you, and surrender to His dominion. You no longer refuse to be guided, provided for, watched over, and protected by Him, no longer resist His sovereignty and arrangements regarding you. You only wish to follow Him, to accompany Him; you only wish to accept Him as your one and only life, to accept Him as your one and only Lord, your one and only God.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. Preface

“Fearing God” does not mean inexplicable fright and dread, nor evasion, nor keeping a distance, nor idolization, nor superstition. Rather, it means admiration, reverence, trust, comprehension, consideration, submission, dedication, love, as well as unconditional and uncomplaining worship, requital, and surrender. Without genuine knowledge of God, people will not have genuine admiration, genuine trust, genuine comprehension, genuine consideration or submission, only terror and unease, only doubt, misunderstanding, evasion, and keeping a distance; without genuine knowledge of God, people will not have genuine dedication and requital; without genuine knowledge of God, people will not have genuine worship and surrender, only blind idolization and superstition; without genuine knowledge of God, people cannot possibly follow the way of God, or fear God, or shun evil. Conversely, every activity and behavior that people engage in will be filled with rebellion and resistance against God, with slanders and judgments about Him, and with evil deeds that run contrary to the truth and to the true meaning of God’s words.

Once people have real trust in God, they will really follow Him and depend on Him; only with real reliance on God can people genuinely understand Him and comprehend Him; along with genuine comprehension of God comes genuine consideration for Him; only with genuine consideration for God can people have genuine submission; only with genuine submission to God can people have genuine dedication; only with genuine dedication to God can people have unconditional and uncomplaining requital; only with genuine reliance, genuine comprehension and consideration, genuine submission, genuine dedication and requital, can people truly come to know God’s disposition and essence, and the identity of the Creator; only when they have truly come to know the Creator can genuine worship and surrender arise within them; only when they have real worship of and surrender to the Creator will they be able to truly break free from evil deeds—that is, to shun evil.

This constitutes the whole process of “fearing God and shunning evil,” and is also the content in its entirety of fearing God and shunning evil. This is the path that must be traversed in order to attain fearing God and shunning evil.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. Preface

First of all, we know that God’s disposition is majesty and wrath; He is not a sheep to be slaughtered by anyone, much less a puppet to be controlled by people however they want. He is also not a bunch of empty air to be bossed around. If you truly believe that God exists, then you should have a God-fearing heart, and you should know that His essence is not one to be angered. This anger may be caused by a word, or perhaps a thought, or perhaps some kind of vile behavior, or perhaps even by a form of mild behavior, or behavior that is passable in the eyes and ethics of humans; or, perhaps it is provoked by a doctrine or a theory. However, once you have angered God, your opportunity is lost, and your end days have arrived. This is a terrible thing! If you do not understand that God must not be offended, then maybe you are not afraid of Him, and perhaps you are routinely offending Him. If you do not know how to fear God, then you are unable to fear God, and you will not know how to put yourself on the path of following God’s way—fearing God and shunning evil. Once you become aware, and are conscious that God must not be offended, you will know what to do to fear God and shun evil.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. How to Know God’s Disposition and the Results His Work Shall Achieve

God is a living God, and just as people behave differently in different situations, His attitude toward these behaviors differs because He is neither a puppet nor is He a bunch of empty air. Getting to know God’s attitude is a worthy pursuit for humankind. People should learn how, by knowing God’s attitude, they can little by little attain knowledge of God’s disposition and come to understand His heart. When you gradually come to understand God’s heart, you will not feel that fearing Him and shunning evil is such a difficult thing to accomplish. Moreover, when you do understand God, you will not be as likely to delimit Him. Once you have stopped delimiting God, you will be less likely to offend Him, and without your realizing it, God will lead you to gain knowledge of Him, and thus you will have the fear of Him in your heart. You will then stop defining God by the words and doctrines or the theories you have mastered, and instead you will constantly seek out God’s desires in all things. This way, you will unconsciously become a person who is in accordance with God’s intentions.

God’s work is unseen and untouchable by humans, but as far as He is concerned, the actions of each and every person—along with their attitude toward Him—are not merely perceptible by God, but visible to Him as well. This is something that everyone should recognize and be very clear about. You might always be asking yourself, “Does God know what I’m doing here? Does He know what I’m thinking about right now? Maybe He does, and maybe He doesn’t.” If you adopt this sort of viewpoint, following and believing in God yet doubting His work and His existence, then sooner or later there will come a day when you will arouse His anger, for you are already teetering on the edge of a dangerous precipice. I have seen people who have believed in God for many years, yet who still have not gained the truth reality, much less understood God’s intentions. These people make no progress in their lives and statures, adhering only to the shallowest of doctrines. This is because such people have never taken God’s word to be life itself, and they have never faced up to and accepted His existence. Do you think that upon seeing such people, God is filled with enjoyment? Do they comfort Him? Thus, it is how people believe in God that decides their fate. Concerning how people pursue and how people approach God, people’s attitudes are of primary importance. Don’t push God to the back of your mind as if He were just air; always think of the God you believe in as a living God, a real God. He is not sitting around up there in the third heaven with nothing to do. Rather, He is constantly scrutinizing everyone’s heart, scrutinizing what you are up to, scrutinizing your every word and every deed, scrutinizing how you behave and seeing what your attitude toward Him is. Whether you are willing to give yourself to God or not, all of your behavior and your innermost thoughts and ideas are laid bare before Him and being scrutinized by Him. Due to your behavior, due to your deeds, and due to your attitude toward Him, God’s opinion of you and His attitude toward you are constantly changing. I would like to offer some advice to some people: Do not place yourselves like infants in the hands of God, as if He should dote on you, as if He could never leave you, and as if His attitude toward you were fixed and could never change, and I advise you to quit dreaming! God is righteous in His treatment of each and every person, and He is earnest in His approach to the work of conquering and saving people. This is His management. He treats every single person seriously, and not like a pet to play with. God’s love for humans is not the pampering or spoiling kind, nor are His mercy and tolerance toward humankind indulgent or laissez-faire. On the contrary, God’s love for humans involves cherishing, pitying, and respecting life; His mercy and tolerance carry within them His expectations of humans, and are the foundation necessary for humanity’s survival. God is alive, and God actually exists; His attitude toward humankind is principled, it is not at all a kind of regulation, and it can change. His intentions for humanity are gradually changing and transforming with time, depending on circumstances as they arise, and along with the attitude of each and every person. Therefore, you should know in your heart with absolute clarity that the essence of God is immutable, and that His disposition will issue forth at different times and in different contexts. You might not think that this is a serious matter, and you might use your own personal notions to imagine how God should do things. However, there are times when the polar opposite of your viewpoint is true, and by using your own personal notions to attempt to gauge God, you have already angered Him. This is because God does not operate the way you think He does, nor will He treat this matter like you say He will. Thus, I remind you to be careful and prudent in your approach to everything around you, and learn how to practice according to the principle of “following God’s way—fearing God and shunning evil” in all things. You must develop an accurate understanding with regard to the matters of God’s intentions and God’s attitude, you must find enlightened people to fellowship with about these matters, and you must seek in earnest. Do not view the God of your belief as a puppet—judging Him at will, arriving at arbitrary conclusions about Him, and approaching Him with an irreverent attitude. While God is bringing you salvation and determining your outcome, He may grant you mercy, or tolerance, or judgment and chastisement, but in any case, His attitude toward you is not fixed. It is dependent on your own attitude toward Him, as well as your understanding of Him. Do not allow one passing aspect of your knowledge or understanding of God to define Him in perpetuity. Do not believe in a dead God; believe in the living One. Remember this!

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. How to Know God’s Disposition and the Results His Work Shall Achieve

I exhort you to make a real effort to understand the content of the administrative decrees, and to endeavor to know the disposition of God. Otherwise, you will find it difficult to keep your lips sealed, your tongues will wag too freely, and you will spout high-sounding talk, unwittingly offending the disposition of God and falling into the darkness, losing the presence of the Holy Spirit and the light. Because you are unprincipled in your actions, doing and saying that which you should not, you shall receive the retribution you deserve. You should know that though you are unprincipled in word and deed, God is highly principled in both. The reason you receive retribution is because you have offended God, not a person. If, in your life, you commit many offenses against the disposition of God, then you are bound to become a child of hell. To man it may appear that you have only committed a few deeds that are at odds with the truth, and nothing more. Are you aware, however, that in the eyes of God you are already someone for whom there is no more sin offering? Because you have violated the administrative decrees of God more than once and have, moreover, shown no sign of repentance or turning back, there is no other recourse but for you to be plunged into hell, where God punishes man. A small number of people, while following God, committed some deeds that violated principles, but after being pruned and given guidance, they gradually discovered their own corruption, thereafter entered on the right track of reality, and they remain well-grounded today. Such people are those who shall remain in the end. Nevertheless, it is the honest that I want; if you are an honest person and someone who acts according to principle, then you can be a confidant of God. If in your actions you do not offend the disposition of God, and seek the desires of God, and have a God-fearing heart, then your faith is up to the standard. Whoever does not fear God and does not have a heart that trembles in horror is highly likely to violate the administrative decrees of God. Many serve God on the strength of their passion but have no understanding of the administrative decrees of God, still less any inkling of the implications of His words. And so, with their good intentions, they often wind up doing things that disturb God’s management. In serious cases, they are expelled from God’s house, deprived of any further chance of following Him, and are cast into hell, all association with God’s house at an end. These people do the work of God’s house on the strength of their ignorant good intentions, and end by angering God’s disposition. People bring their ways of serving officials and lords to the house of God and try to put them into play, vainly thinking that they can be applied with effortless ease here. Never do they imagine that God has not the disposition of a lamb, but that of a lion. Therefore, those associating with God for the first time are unable to communicate with Him, for the heart of God is unlike that of man. Only after you understand many truths can you continuously come to know God. This knowledge is not made up of words and doctrines but can be used as a treasure by means of which you enter into close confidence with God, and as proof that He delights in you. If you lack the reality of knowledge and are not equipped with the truth, then your passionate service can only bring upon you the disgust and abhorrence of God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Three Admonitions

If you do not understand the disposition of God, then it will be impossible for you to do the work you should do for Him. If you do not know the essence of God, then it will be impossible for you to have fear and dread of Him; instead, there will be only heedless perfunctoriness and prevarication, and moreover, incorrigible blasphemy. Although understanding God’s disposition is indeed important, and knowing God’s essence cannot be overlooked, no one has ever thoroughly examined or delved into these issues. It is plain to see that you have all dismissed the administrative decrees I have issued. If you do not understand the disposition of God, then you will be very likely to offend His disposition. Offending His disposition is tantamount to provoking the ire of God Himself, in which case the ultimate fruit of your actions will be the violation of the administrative decrees. Now you should realize that when you know God’s essence, so too can you understand His disposition—and when you understand His disposition, so too will you have understood the administrative decrees. Needless to say, much of what is contained within the administrative decrees touches upon the disposition of God, but not all of His disposition is expressed within the administrative decrees; hence, you must go a step further in developing your understanding of God’s disposition.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. It Is Very Important to Understand God’s Disposition

Every sentence I have spoken contains within it the disposition of God. You would do well to ponder My words carefully, and you will surely profit greatly from them. The essence of God is very difficult to grasp, but I trust that you all have at least some idea about the disposition of God. I hope, then, that you will have more to show Me of things you have done that do not offend the disposition of God. Then will I be reassured. For example, keep God in your heart at all times. When you act, do so according to His words. Seek out His intentions in all things, and refrain from doing that which disrespects and dishonors God. Even less should you put God in the back of your mind to fill the future void in your heart. If you do this, you will have offended the disposition of God. Again, supposing you never make blasphemous remarks or complaints against God throughout your life, and again, supposing you are able to discharge properly all that He has entrusted to you and also to submit to all His words throughout your life, then you will have avoided violating the administrative decrees. For example, if you have ever said, “Why do I not think that he is god?” “I think that these words are nothing more than some enlightenment of the holy spirit,” “In my opinion, not everything god does is necessarily right,” “The humanity of god is not superior to mine,” “The words of god are simply not believable,” or other such judgmental remarks, then I exhort you to confess and repent your sins more often. Otherwise, you will never have a chance at forgiveness, for you offend not a man, but God Himself. You may believe that you are judging a man, but the Spirit of God does not consider it that way. Your disrespect of His flesh is equal to disrespecting Him. This being so, have you not offended God’s disposition? You must remember that all that is done by the Spirit of God is done in order to safeguard His work in the flesh and in order that this work be done well. If you neglect this, then I say that you are someone who will never be able to succeed in believing in God. For you have provoked the wrath of God, and so He shall use fitting punishment to teach you a lesson.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. It Is Very Important to Understand God’s Disposition

Though God’s essence contains an element of love, and He is merciful toward each and every person, people have overlooked and forgotten the fact that His essence is that He possesses dignity. That He has love does not mean that people can offend Him at will, without Him feeling anything or reacting in any way; that He has mercy does not mean that He has no principles in how He treats people. God is a living God; His existence is all too real. He is neither an imagined puppet nor any other object. Given that He does exist, we should at all times be attentive to the voice of His heart, pay close attention to His attitude, and try to understand His feelings. Do not use human imaginings to delimit God, and do not impose upon Him the thoughts of the human mind or the wishes of the human will, asking God to treat people using human methods and based on human imaginings. If you do this, then you are angering God, testing His wrath, and challenging His dignity! Thus, once you have come to understand the severity of this matter, I urge each and every one of you to be cautious and prudent in your actions and in your speech, and to exercise the utmost caution and prudence in how you treat matters concerning God! When you do not understand what God’s attitude is, do not speak recklessly, act recklessly, or apply labels recklessly; even more so, do not arbitrarily draw conclusions. Instead, you should wait and seek. These are manifestations of fearing God and shunning evil. If you can achieve this and possess this attitude before all else, then God will not blame you for your foolishness, ignorance, and lack of understanding of things; instead, because of your attitude—your fear of offending God, your respect for His intentions, and your willingness to submit to Him—God will remember you, guide and enlighten you, or tolerate your immaturity and ignorance. Otherwise, as the result of the irreverent attitude you have toward Him—judging Him as you wish or arbitrarily speculating about and defining His wishes—God will condemn you, discipline you, and even punish you; or, He will have something to say about you, and perhaps what He says will be concerning your outcome. Therefore, I wish to emphasize once more: Each of you should be cautious and prudent about everything that comes from God. Do not speak carelessly, and do not be careless in your actions. Before you say anything, you should stop and think: Would this action of mine anger God? In doing it, am I fearing God? Even in simple matters, you should try to figure these questions out, and spend more time considering them. If you can truly practice according to these principles in all aspects, in all things, at all times, and adopt such an attitude especially when you do not understand something, then God will always guide you and provide you with a path to follow.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. How to Know God’s Disposition and the Results His Work Shall Achieve

In every age of God’s work, He bestows some words upon people and tells them of some truths. These truths serve as the way people should adhere to, the way they should follow, the way that enables them to fear God and shun evil, and the way that people should put into practice and adhere to in their lives and over the course of their life journeys. It is for these reasons that God expresses these utterances to humanity. These words that come from God should be adhered to by people, and to adhere to them is to receive life. If a person does not adhere to them, does not put them into practice, and does not live out God’s words in their life, then this person is not putting the truth into practice. Furthermore, if people are not putting the truth into practice, then they are not fearing God and shunning evil, nor can they satisfy God. People who are incapable of satisfying God cannot receive His approval, and such people have no outcome.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. How to Know God’s Disposition and the Results His Work Shall Achieve

Following God’s way is not about observing superficial regulations; rather, it means that when you are faced with a problem, you view it first and foremost as a situation that has been orchestrated by God, a responsibility He has bestowed upon you, or a task that He has entrusted to you. When facing this problem, you should even see it as a trial God has put to you. When you encounter this problem, you must have a standard in your heart, and you must think that this matter has come from God. You must think about how to deal with it in such a way that you can fulfill your responsibility while remaining loyal to God, as well as how to do it without infuriating Him or offending His disposition. … This is because in order to follow God’s way, we cannot let go of anything that happens either to us or around us, even the little things; whether we think we should pay attention to it or not, as long as any matter is facing us, we must not let it go. All things that happen should be viewed as tests God has given us. What do you think about this way of looking at things? If you have this kind of attitude, then it confirms one fact: Deep down, you fear God and are willing to shun evil. If you have this desire to satisfy God, then what you put into practice will not be far off meeting the standard of fearing God and shunning evil.

There are often those who believe that matters people do not pay much attention to and do not usually mention are but minor trifles that have nothing to do with putting the truth into practice. When faced with just such an issue, these people do not give it much thought, and then they let it slide. In actual fact, when you encounter this issue, it’s precisely the time when you should learn the lesson of how to fear God and how to shun evil, and you should be even more aware of what God is doing when you encounter it. God is right by your side, observing your every word and action, and watching everything you do and what changes take place in your thoughts—this is God’s work. Some people ask, “If that’s true, then why haven’t I felt it?” You have not felt it because you have not adhered to the way of fearing God and shunning evil as your primary way; you therefore cannot sense the subtle work God does in people, which manifests itself according to people’s various thoughts and actions. You are a scatterbrain! What is a major matter? What is a minor matter? The matters that involve following God’s way are not divided into major and minor ones, they are all a big deal—can you understand that? (We can understand it.) In terms of everyday matters, there are some which people view as very major, and others that are viewed as minor trifles. People often see these major matters as being very important, and they consider them to have been sent by God. However, as these major matters play out, due to people’s immature stature and because of their poor caliber, people often fall short of God’s intentions, cannot obtain any revelations, and cannot acquire any actual knowledge that is of value. As far as minor matters are concerned, these are simply overlooked by people and left to slip away one bit at a time. As such, people have lost many opportunities to be examined and tested before God. What does it mean if you always overlook the people, events, and things, and situations that God has orchestrated for you? It means that every day, and even at every moment, you are constantly forsaking God’s perfection of you, as well as His leadership. Whenever God orchestrates a situation for you, He is observing in secret, scrutinizing your heart and your thoughts and ideas, watching how you think and how you will act. If you are a careless person—one who has never been serious about God’s way, His words, or the truth—then you will not be mindful of or pay attention to what God wishes to accomplish or what He requires of you in the environments He sets up for you. Neither will you know how the people, events, and things that you encounter relate to the truth or God’s intentions. After you face repeated circumstances and repeated trials like this, with God not seeing any results in you, how will He act? After having repeatedly faced trials, you have not honored God as great in your heart, nor have you taken the circumstances that God orchestrated for you seriously, and regarded them as trials or tests from God. Instead, one after the other, you have rejected the opportunities that God bestowed upon you, letting them slip away time and time again. Is this not extreme rebellion that people exhibit? (It is.) Will God feel hurt because of this? (He will.) Wrong, God will not feel hurt! Hearing Me say such a thing has shocked you once more. You may be thinking: “Was it not said earlier that God always feels hurt? Will God not therefore feel hurt? When, then, does He feel hurt?” In short, God will not feel hurt in this situation. So, then, what is God’s attitude toward the type of behavior outlined above? When people reject the trials and tests that God sends them, and when they shirk from them, there is only one attitude that God has toward such people. What attitude is this? God spurns this kind of person, from the bottom of His heart. There are two layers of meaning for the word “spurn.” How do I explain it from My point of view? The word “spurn” carries connotations of deep loathing and hatred. What about the other layer of its meaning? That is the part that implies giving up on something. You all know what “give up” means, right? In a nutshell, “spurn” is a word that represents God’s ultimate reaction and attitude toward those people who are behaving in such a way; it is extreme loathing and antipathy toward them, and thus it results in the decision to give up on them. This is God’s final decision toward a person who has never followed God’s way and who has never feared God and shunned evil.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. How to Know God’s Disposition and the Results His Work Shall Achieve

Why was Job able to fear God and shun evil? What was he thinking in his heart? How was he able to not do these evil things? He had a God-fearing heart. What does it mean to have a God-fearing heart? It means that in his heart he was afraid of God and could honor God as great, and that there was a place for God in his heart. He shunned evil not because he was afraid that God would see it or that God would get angry at this. Rather, in his heart he honored God as great, was willing to satisfy God, and was willing to hold fast to God’s words. That is why he was able to fear God and shun evil. Everybody now can say the phrase “fearing God and shunning evil,” yet they do not know how Job accomplished it. In fact, Job treated “fearing God and shunning evil” as the most basic and important thing in believing in God. Therefore, he was able to hold fast to these words, as though he was holding fast to a commandment. He listened to God’s words because in his heart he honored God as great. No matter how unremarkable the words of God may have seemed in the eyes of man, even if they were just ordinary words, in Job’s heart, these words were from the supreme God; they were the greatest, most important words. Even if they are words people look down on, so long as they are God’s words, people should observe them. Even if they are mocked or slandered, they must observe His words. Even if they encounter tribulation or are persecuted, they must hold fast to His words until the end, and they cannot give up on them. This is what it means to fear God. You must hold fast to every word God demands of man. As for those things God prohibits, or those things God loathes, if you do not know about them, then so be it, but once you know of them, then you should be able to absolutely not do those things. You should be able to hold fast, even if your family rejects you, nonbelievers mock you, or those close to you ridicule and make fun of you. Why do you need to hold fast? What is your motivation? What are your principles? It is, “I must hold fast to God’s words and act according to His desires. I will be firm in doing the things God likes, and be resolute in abandoning the things God loathes. If I do not know God’s intention, so be it, but if I do know and understand His intention, then I will be resolute in listening to and submitting to His words. No one will be able to hinder me, and I will not waver, even until the end of time.” This is what it means to fear God and shun evil.

The precondition for people to be able to shun evil is having a God-fearing heart. How is a God-fearing heart made? By honoring God as great. What does it mean to honor God as great? It means that one is able to evaluate everything using God’s words, and take His words as their standard and criterion because they know that God holds sovereignty over all things and they fear God in their heart. This is what it means to honor God as great. In simple terms, honoring God as great is to have God in your heart, to keep God in mind, to not forget yourself in the things you do, and to not try to strike out on your own, but rather to let God take charge. In everything, you think, “I believe in God and follow God. I am but a small created being which God has chosen. I should let go of views, suggestions, and decisions that come from my own will, and let God take charge. God is my Lord, my rock, and the bright light which guides my way in everything I do. I must do things according to His words and desires, not put myself first.” This is what it means to have God in your heart. When you want to do something, do not act on impulse or recklessly. First think about what God’s words say, if God would loathe your actions, and whether your actions are in line with His intentions. In your heart, first ask yourself, think, and ponder; do not be rash. To be rash is to be impulsive, and to be motivated by hotheadedness and the will of man. If you are always rash and impulsive, it shows that God is not in your heart. Then when you say you honor God as great, are these not empty words? Where is your reality? You have no reality, and you cannot honor God as great. You take charge of everything yourself, doing as you will at every turn. In which case, if you say you have a God-fearing heart, isn’t this nonsense? You are tricking people with these words. What is the concrete manifestation of a person with a God-fearing heart? It is honoring God as great. The concrete manifestation of honoring God as great is that God has a place in one’s heart—the foremost place. They allow God to be their Master and to reign in their heart. So when something happens, they have a heart of submission to God. They are not reckless, nor rash, and they do not act impetuously; but rather, they are able to face it calmly, and quiet themselves before God to seek the truth principles. Whether you do things according to God’s word or your own will, and whether you allow your own will or God’s word to take charge, depends on whether God is in your heart. You say God is in your heart, but when something happens, you act blindly, letting yourself have the final say, and pushing God to the side. Is this the manifestation of having God in your heart? There are some people who are able to pray to God when something happens, but after praying, they mull things over, thinking, “I think this is what I should do. I think that is what I should do.” You always follow your own will, and no matter who fellowships with you, you do not listen. Is this not the manifestation of lacking a God-fearing heart? Because you do not seek the truth principles and do not practice the truth, when you say you honor God as great, and have a God-fearing heart, they are just empty words. People who do not have God and are unable to honor God as great in their hearts, are people who do not have a God-fearing heart. People who are unable to seek the truth when something happens, and who do not have a heart of submission to God, are all people who lack a conscience and reason. If one truly has a conscience and reason, when something happens, they will naturally be able to seek the truth. They first must think, “I believe in God. I have come to pursue God’s salvation. Because I have a corrupted disposition, and I always treat myself as the sole authority in whatever I do and always go against God’s intentions, I must repent. I cannot continue to rebel against God in this way. I must learn to be submissive to God. I must seek what God’s words say, and what the truth principles are.” These are the thoughts and resolve that arise from the reason of normal humanity. These are the principles and the attitude with which you should do things. When you possess the reason of normal humanity, then you possess this attitude; when you do not possess the reason of normal humanity, then you do not possess this attitude. That is why possessing the reason of normal humanity is crucial and very important. It is directly related to people understanding the truth and achieving salvation.

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

Job’s fear and submission toward God is an example to mankind, and his perfection and uprightness were the peak of the humanity that ought to be possessed by man. Though he did not see God, he came to appreciate that God truly existed, and because of this appreciation he feared God, and due to his fear of God, he was able to submit to God. He gave God free rein to take whatever he had, yet he was without complaint, and fell down before God and told Him that, at this very moment, even if God took his flesh, he would gladly allow Him to do so, without complaint. His entire conduct was due to his perfect and upright humanity. This is to say, as a result of his innocence, honesty, and kindness, Job firmly believed in the existence of God that he had appreciated and perceived. Upon this foundation he made demands of himself and standardized his thinking, behavior, conduct and principles of actions before God in accordance with God’s guidance of him and the deeds of God that he had seen among all things. Over time, his experiences caused in him a real and actual fear of God and made him shun evil. This was the source of the integrity to which Job held firm. Job was possessed of an honest, innocent, and kind humanity, and he had practical experience of fearing God, submitting to God, and shunning evil, as well as the knowledge that “Jehovah gave, and Jehovah has taken away.” Only because of these things was he able to stand firm in his testimony amid such malicious attacks by Satan, and only because of them was he able to not disappoint God and to provide a satisfactory answer to God when God’s trials came upon him.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II

Job possessed and pursued these things while being unable to see God or hear the words of God; though he had never seen God, he had come to know the means by which God holds sovereignty over all things, and he understood the wisdom with which God does this. Though he had never heard the words spoken by God, Job knew that the deeds of rewarding man and taking from man all come from God. Although the years of his life were no different from those of any ordinary person, he did not allow the unremarkableness of his life to affect his knowledge of God’s sovereignty over all things, or to affect his following of the way of fearing God and shunning evil. In his eyes, the laws of all things were full of God’s deeds, and God’s sovereignty could be seen in any part of a person’s life. He had not seen God, but he was able to personally experience that God’s deeds are everywhere, and during his unremarkable time on earth, in every corner of his life he was able to see and appreciate the extraordinary and wondrous deeds of God, and he could see the wondrous arrangements of God. The hiddenness and silence of God did not hinder Job’s appreciation of God’s deeds, nor did they affect his knowledge of God’s sovereignty over all things. His life was the personal experience, during his everyday life, of the sovereignty and arrangements of God, who is hidden among all things. In his everyday life he also heard and understood the voice of God’s heart and the words of God, who is silent among all things yet expresses the voice of His heart and His words by governing the laws of all things. You see, then, that if people have the same humanity and pursuit as Job, then they can gain the same appreciation and knowledge as Job, and can acquire the same understanding and knowledge of God’s sovereignty over all things as Job. God had not appeared to Job or spoken to him, but Job was able to be perfect and upright, and to fear God and shun evil. In other words, without God having appeared to or spoken to man, God’s deeds among all things and His sovereignty over all things are sufficient for man to become aware of God’s existence, power, and authority, and God’s power and authority are enough to make man follow the way of fearing God and shunning evil.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II

You must focus on accepting and practicing the truth, and on using God’s words to compare your states and examine them, and then change the erroneous viewpoints and attitudes with which you treat every sort of matter. Ultimately, you must come to possess a God-fearing heart in every situation, and not act rashly, follow your own will, do things according to your desires, or live within corrupt dispositions. Instead, all your actions and words must be based on God’s words and on the truth. In this way, you will gradually develop a God-fearing heart. A God-fearing heart arises while one is pursuing the truth; it does not come from restraint. All restraint gives rise to is a kind of behavior; it is a sort of surface-level limitation. A true God-fearing heart is achieved by constantly accepting the judgment and chastisement of God’s words and accepting being pruned while experiencing His work. When people see the true face of their own corruption, they will know the preciousness of the truth, and they will be able to strive toward the truth. The revelations of their corrupt dispositions will grow fewer and fewer, and they’ll be able to live before God normally, eating and drinking God’s words every day, and doing the duties of created beings. A God-fearing heart and a heart of submission to God arise through this process. All who constantly seek the truth to resolve problems while doing their duties are those with God-fearing hearts. All who have received discipline and experienced being pruned a lot know what it is to fear God. When their corruption is revealed, they not only feel trepidation and dread in their hearts, they can also feel God’s wrath and His majesty. In this situation, fear naturally arises from their hearts.

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

Whether you are doing your duty, interacting with others, or dealing with a particular issue that you are faced with, you must have an attitude of seeking and submission. With this kind of attitude, it can be said that you have something of a God-fearing heart. Being able to seek the truth and submit to the truth is the path to fearing God and shunning evil. If you lack an attitude of seeking and submission, and you instead insist on your own ideas, are stubbornly resistant, and you refuse to accept the truth and are averse to the truth, then you will naturally commit a great deal of evil. You won’t be able to help it! If you never seek the truth to resolve this, the ultimate consequence will be that no matter how much you experience, no matter how many situations you find yourself in, and no matter how many lessons God sets up for you, you won’t understand the truth, and you will ultimately remain incapable of entering into the truth reality. If you do not possess the truth reality, you will be incapable of following the way of God, and if you are never able to follow the way of God, then you are not a person who fears God and shuns evil. People always say that they want to do their duties and follow God. Are these simple things? Absolutely not. These things are enormously important in people’s lives! It isn’t easy to do one’s duty well to satisfy God, or to come to fear God and shun evil. But I will tell you a principle of practice: If you have an attitude of seeking and submission when something happens to you, this will protect you. The ultimate goal isn’t for you to be protected. It is to enable you to understand the truth, enter into the truth reality, and attain God’s salvation. This is the ultimate goal. If you experience everything with this attitude, you will no longer feel that doing your duty to satisfy the intentions of God is an empty phrase and a slogan. It will no longer feel so taxing. Moreover, before you realize it, you will come to understand quite a few truths. If you try to experience things in this way, you will be sure to reap rewards. No matter who a person is, and regardless of their age, education, how long they have believed in God, or what duties they do, as long as they have an attitude of seeking and submission—as long as they experience things in this way—ultimately, they will surely be able to understand the truth and enter into the truth reality. However, if you do not have an attitude of seeking or submission in all that happens to you, then you will not be able to understand the truth, nor will you be able to enter into the truth reality.

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

You must often come before God, eat and drink and ponder His words, accept His discipline and guidance, and learn the lesson of submission—this is very important. You must be able to submit to all the environments, people, events, and things that God has set up for you, and when it comes to matters you cannot quite fathom, you must frequently pray while seeking the truth; only by understanding God’s intentions can you find a way forward. You must have a God-fearing heart. Do what you ought carefully and cautiously, and live before God with a heart of submission to God. Quiet yourself often before Him, and do not be dissolute. At the least, when something happens to you, first quiet yourself, then rush to pray, and by praying and seeking and waiting, come to understand God’s intentions. Is this not an attitude of fearing God? If you fear and submit to God at heart, and are able to quiet yourself before Him and grasp His intentions, then with this kind of cooperation and practice, you will be protected, and you will not be tempted, nor will you do anything that disrupts or disturbs the work of the church. Seek the truth in the matters which you cannot see clearly. Do not blindly pass judgment or issue condemnations. In this way, you will not be loathed by God, or spurned by Him. If you have a God-fearing heart, you will be afraid of offending Him, and should something that tempts befall you, you will live before God in terror and trepidation, and yearn to submit to Him and satisfy Him in all things. It is only once you have such a practice and are able to live often in such a state, often quieting yourself before God and often coming before Him, that you will be able unconsciously to shun temptation and evil things. Without a God-fearing heart, or with a heart that is not before Him, there are some evils you will be capable of. You have a corrupt disposition, and you cannot master it, so you are capable of evil. Will the consequences not be severe if you should do such evil as constitutes a disruption and disturbance? At the least, you will be pruned, and if what you have done is serious, God will spurn you, and you will be expelled from the church. However, if you have a heart of submission to God, and your heart can often be quiet before God, and if you fear and dread God, will you not then be able to stay far clear of many evil things? If you fear God and say, “I dread God; I’m afraid of offending Him, of disrupting His work and courting His loathing,” is this not a normal attitude and a normal state for you to have? What is it that will have given rise to your dread? Your dread will have arisen from a God-fearing heart. If you have a heart that dreads God, then you will shun and avoid evil things when you see them, and thus you will be protected. Can someone without a heart that dreads God fear Him? Can they shun evil? (No.) Are they not bold, those who cannot fear God and do not dread Him? Can bold people be restrained? (No.) And do those who cannot be restrained not do whatever occurs to them in the heat of the moment? What are the things people do when they act by their own will, by their zeal, by their corrupt disposition? As God sees them, they are evil things. So, you must see clearly that it is a good thing for man to have a heart that dreads God—with it, one can come to fear God. When one has God in their heart and can fear God, they will then be able to stay far clear of evil things. Such people are they who have a hope of being saved.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only With Fear of God Can One Tread Upon the Path of Salvation