40. What it is to exalt and testify for God

Words of Almighty God of the Last Days

What you have experienced and seen surpasses that of the saints and prophets from all ages, but are you able to provide testimony greater than the words of these saints and prophets of times past? What I now bestow upon you surpasses Moses and eclipses David, so likewise I ask that your testimony surpass Moses and that your words be greater than David. I give you a hundredfold—so I likewise ask you to repay Me in kind. You must know I am the One who bestows life unto mankind, and it is you who receive life from Me and must bear witness for Me. This is your duty which I send down upon you and which you ought to do for Me. I have bestowed all My glory unto you, I have bestowed unto you the life that the chosen people, the Israelites, never received. By rights, you ought to bear witness to Me and devote to Me your youth and lay down your life. Whomsoever I bestow My glory unto shall bear Me witness and give their life for Me. This has long been predestined by Me. It is your good fortune that I bestow My glory upon you, and your duty is to testify to My glory. If you were to believe in Me only to gain blessings, then My work would bear little significance, and you would not be performing your duty. The Israelites saw only My mercy, love, and greatness, and the Jews witnessed only My patience and redemption. They saw very, very little of the work of My Spirit, to the point that they understood but one-ten-thousandth of what you have heard and seen. What you have seen exceeds even the chief priests among them. The truths you understand today surpass theirs; what you have seen today exceeds what was seen in the Age of Law, as well as the Age of Grace, and what you have experienced surpasses even Moses and Elijah. For what the Israelites understood was only the law of Jehovah, and what they saw was only the sight of Jehovah’s back; what the Jews understood was only the redemption of Jesus, what they received was only the grace bestowed by Jesus, and what they saw was only the image of Jesus within the house of the Jews. What you see this day is the glory of Jehovah, the redemption of Jesus, and all My deeds of this day. So, too, have you heard the words of My Spirit, appreciated My wisdom, come to know My wonder, and learned of My disposition. I have also told you all of My management plan. What you have seen is not merely a loving and merciful God, but a God filled with righteousness. You have seen My wondrous work and known that I brim with majesty and wrath. Furthermore, you know that I once brought down My raging fury upon the house of Israel, and that today, it has come upon you. You understand more of My mysteries in heaven than Isaiah and John; you know more of My loveliness and venerableness than all the saints of ages past. What you have received is not merely My truth, My way, and My life, but a vision and revelation greater than that of John. You understand many more mysteries, and have also looked upon My true countenance; you have accepted more of My judgment and know more of My righteous disposition. And so, though you were born in the last days, your understanding is that of the former and the past, and you have also experienced the things of today, and this was all personally done by Me. What I ask of you is not excessive, for I have given you so much, and you have seen much in Me. Thus, I ask you to bear witness for Me to the saints of ages past, and this is My heart’s only desire.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. What Do You Know of Faith?

God does the work of judgment and chastisement so that man may gain knowledge of Him, and for the sake of His testimony. Without His judgment of man’s corrupt disposition, man could not possibly know His righteous disposition, which brooks no offense, and nor would man be able to turn his old knowledge of God into a new one. For the sake of His testimony, and for the sake of His management, He makes His entirety public, thus enabling man, through His public appearance, to arrive at knowledge of God, to be transformed in his disposition, and to bear resounding testimony to God. The transformation of the disposition of man is achieved through many different kinds of God’s work; without such changes in his disposition, man would be unable to bear testimony to God and to accord with God’s intentions. The transformation of man’s disposition signifies that man has freed himself from Satan’s bondage and from the influence of darkness, and has truly become a model and specimen of God’s work, a witness of God, and one who accords with God’s intentions. Today, God incarnate has come to do His work on earth, and He requires that man achieve knowledge of Him, submission to Him, and testimony to Him—they are to know His practical and normal work, they are to submit to all of His words and work which do not accord with the notions of man, and they are to bear testimony to all the work He does to save man, as well as all the deeds He accomplishes to conquer man. Those who bear testimony to God must have knowledge of God; only this kind of testimony is accurate and practical, and only this kind of testimony can shame Satan. God uses those who have come to know Him through undergoing His judgment, chastisement, and pruning, to bear testimony to Him. He uses those who have been corrupted by Satan to bear testimony to Him, and so too does He use those whose disposition has changed, and who have thus gained His blessings, to bear testimony to Him. He does not need man to praise Him with his mouth, nor does He need the praise and testimony of the ilk of Satan, who have not been saved by Him. Only those who know God are qualified to bear testimony to Him, and only those who have been transformed in their disposition are qualified to bear testimony to Him. God will not allow man intentionally to bring shame upon His name.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Those Who Know God Can Bear Testimony to God

Bearing testimony to God is primarily a matter of speaking of your knowledge of God’s work, of how God conquers people, of how He saves people, of how He changes people; it is a matter of speaking of how He guides people to enter into the truth reality, allowing them to be conquered, made perfect, and saved by Him. Bearing testimony means speaking of His work and all that you have experienced. Only His work can represent Him, and only His work can reveal Him publicly, in His entirety; His work bears testimony to Him. His work and utterances directly represent the Spirit; the work He does is carried out by the Spirit, and the words He speaks are spoken by the Spirit. These things are merely expressed through the incarnate flesh of God, yet, in reality, they are expressions of the Spirit. All the work He does and all the words He speaks represent His essence. If, after clothing Himself in flesh and coming among man, God did not speak or work, and then asked you to know His practicality, His normality, and His omnipotence, would you be able to? Would you be able to know what the essence of the Spirit is? Would you be able to know what the attributes of His flesh are? It is only because you have experienced each step of His work that He asks you to bear testimony to Him. If you were without such experience, then He would not insist that you bear testimony. Thus, when you bear testimony to God, you are not only testifying to His exterior of normal humanity, but also to the work He does and the path He leads; you are to testify to how you have been conquered by Him and in what aspects you have been made perfect. This is the kind of testimony you should bear. If, wherever you go, you cry out: “Our God has come to work, and His work is truly practical! He has gained us without supernatural acts, without any miracles and wonders at all!” Others will ask: “What do you mean when you say He does not work miracles and wonders? How can He have conquered you without working miracles and wonders?” And you say: “He speaks, and, without a show of any wonders or miracles, He has conquered us. His work has conquered us.” Ultimately, if you are unable to say anything of essence, if you cannot talk of specifics, is this true testimony? When God incarnate conquers people, it is His divine words that do so. Humanity cannot accomplish this; it is not something any mortal can achieve, and even those of the highest caliber among normal people are incapable of this, for His divinity is higher than any created being. This is extraordinary to people; the Creator, after all, is higher than any created being. Created beings cannot be higher than the Creator; if you were higher than He, He would not be able to conquer you, and He can only conquer you because He is higher than you. He who can conquer all humankind is the Creator, and none but He can do this work. These words are “testimony”—the kind of testimony you should bear. Step by step, you have experienced chastisement, judgment, refinement, trials, setbacks, and tribulations, and you have been conquered; you have put aside the prospects of the flesh, your personal motivations, and the intimate interests of the flesh. In other words, God’s words have conquered your heart completely. Although you have not grown in your life as much as He demands, you know all these things and you are utterly convinced by what He does. Thus, this may be called testimony, testimony that is real and true. The work God has come to do, the work of judgment and chastisement, is meant to conquer man, but He is also concluding His work, ending the age, and carrying out the work of conclusion. He is ending the entire age, saving all of humankind, delivering humankind from sin for once and for all; He is fully gaining humankind, which He created. You should bear testimony to all of this. You have experienced so much of God’s work, you have seen it with your own eyes and experienced it personally; when you have reached the very end, you must not be unable to perform the function incumbent upon you. What a pity that would be! In the future, when the gospel is spread, you should be able to speak of your own knowledge, testify to all that you have gained in your heart, and spare no effort. This is what a created being should attain. What is the actual significance of this stage of God’s work? What is its effect? And how much of it is carried out in man? What should people do? When you can speak clearly of all the work God incarnate has done since coming to earth, then your testimony will be complete. When you can speak clearly of these five things: the significance of His work; its contents; its essence; the disposition it represents; and its principles, then this will prove you are capable of bearing testimony to God, that you are truly possessed of knowledge. My requirements of you are not very high, and are attainable by all those who are in true pursuit. If you are resolved to be one of God’s witnesses, you must understand what God loathes and what God loves. You have experienced much of His work; through this work, you must come to know His disposition, understand His intentions and His requirements of mankind, and use this knowledge to testify about Him and fulfill your duty.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Practice (7)

When bearing testimony for God, you should mainly talk about how God judges and chastises people, and what trials He uses to refine people and change their dispositions. You should also talk about how much corruption has been revealed in your experience, how much you have suffered, how many things you did to resist God, and how you were eventually conquered by God. Talk about how much real knowledge of God’s work you have, and how you should bear witness for God and repay Him for His love. You should put substance into this kind of language, while putting it in a simple manner. Do not talk about empty theories. Speak more down-to-earth; speak from the heart. This is how you should experience things. Do not equip yourselves with profound-seeming, empty theories in an effort to show off; doing so makes you appear quite arrogant and senseless. You should speak more about real things from your actual experience, and speak more from the heart; this is most beneficial to others, and most appropriate for them to see. You used to be people who opposed God the most, who were least inclined to submit to Him, but now you have been conquered—never forget that. You should ponder and think about these matters more. Once people understand them clearly, they will know how to bear testimony, otherwise, they will be liable to commit shameful and senseless acts, which is not bearing testimony for God, but rather bringing shame upon God.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only by Pursuing the Truth Can One Achieve a Change in Disposition

One day, when you are spreading the gospel abroad and someone asks you: “How is your faith in God going?” you will be able to say: “God’s actions are so marvelous!” They will feel that your words speak of real experiences. This is truly bearing witness. You will say that God’s work is full of wisdom, and His work in you has truly convinced you and conquered your heart. You will always love Him because He is more than worthy of mankind’s love! If you can speak to these things, then you can move people’s hearts. All of this is bearing witness. If you are able to bear resounding witness, to move people to tears, that shows that you truly are one who loves God, for you are able to testify to loving God, and through you, God’s actions can be borne out in testimony. By your testimony, others are made to seek out God’s work, to experience God’s work, and in any environment they experience, they will be able to stand firm. This is the only genuine way of bearing witness, and this is exactly what is required of you now. You should see that God’s work is extremely valuable and worthy of being treasured by people, that God is so precious and so abundant; He can not only speak, but also judge people, refine their hearts, bring them enjoyment, gain them, conquer them, and perfect them. From your experience you will see that God is very lovable. So how much do you love God now? Can you really say these things from your heart? When you are able to express these words from the depths of your heart, then you will be able to bear witness. Once your experience has reached this level you will be capable of being a witness for God, and you will be qualified. If you do not reach this level in your experience, then you will still be too far off. It is normal for people to show weaknesses during the process of refinement, but after refinement you should be able to say: “God is so wise in His work!” If you are truly able to attain a practical understanding of these words, then it will become something you cherish, and your experience will have value.

What should you pursue now? Whether or not you are capable of bearing witness for God’s work, whether or not you are able to become a testimony and a manifestation of God, and whether or not you are fit to be used by Him—these are the things you should seek. How much work has God really done in you? How much have you seen, how much have you grasped? How much have you experienced, and tasted? Regardless of whether God has tested you, pruned you, or disciplined you, His actions and His work have been carried out on you. But as a believer in God and as someone who is willing to pursue being perfected by Him, are you able to bear witness for God’s work on the basis of your practical experience? Can you live out God’s word through your practical experience? Are you able to provide for others through your own practical experience, and expend your whole life to bear witness for God’s work? To bear witness to God’s work, you must rely on your experience, knowledge, and the price you have paid. Only thus can you satisfy His intentions. Are you someone who bears witness to God’s work? Do you have this aspiration? If you are able to bear witness to His name, and even more, to His work, and if you can live out the image that He requires of His people, then you are a witness for God. How do you actually bear witness for God? You do it by seeking and longing to live out God’s word, and, by bearing witness with your words, allowing people to know His work and to see His actions. If you truly seek all of this, then God will perfect you. If all you seek is to be perfected by God and be blessed in the very end, then the perspective of your faith in God is not pure. You should be pursuing how to see God’s deeds in real life, how to satisfy Him when He reveals His intentions to you, and seeking how you ought to bear witness to His wondrousness and wisdom, and how to bear witness for how He disciplines and prunes you. All of these are things you should now be pondering. If your God-loving heart is solely so that you can share in God’s glory after He perfects you, then it is still inadequate and cannot meet God’s requirements. You need to be able to bear witness to God’s work, satisfy His demands, and experience the work He has done on people in a practical way. Whether pain, tears, or sadness, you must experience all of these things in your practice. They are meant to perfect you as one who bears witness for God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Those Who Are to Be Made Perfect Must Undergo Refinement

What testimony does man ultimately bear to God? Man testifies that God is the righteous God, that His disposition is righteousness, wrath, chastisement, and judgment; man testifies to the righteous disposition of God. God uses His judgment to make man perfect, He has loved man, and saved man—but how much is contained within His love? There is judgment, majesty, wrath, and curse. Though God cursed man in the past, He did not completely cast man into the bottomless pit, but used that means to refine man’s faith; He did not put man to death, but acted in order to make man perfect. The substance of the flesh is that which is of Satan—God said it exactly right—but the facts carried out by God are not completed according to His words. He curses you so that you might love Him, and so that you might know the substance of the flesh; He chastises you so that you might be awakened, to allow you to know the deficiencies within you, and to know man’s utter unworthiness. Thus, God’s curses, His judgment, and His majesty and wrath—they are all in order to make man perfect. All that God does today, and the righteous disposition that He makes plain within you—it is all in order to make man perfect. Such is the love of God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only by Experiencing Painful Trials Can You Know the Loveliness of God

Today, you can seek to be made perfect or seek changes in your external humanity and improvements in your caliber, but of principal importance is that you can understand that everything that God does today has meaning and is of benefit: It enables you who are born in a land of filth to escape the filth and shake it off, it enables you to overcome the influence of Satan, and leave behind the dark influence of Satan. By focusing on these things, you are protected in this land of filth. Ultimately, what testimony will you be asked to give? You are born in a land of filth but are able to become holy, never again to be sullied by filth, to live under the power of Satan but divest yourself of Satan’s influence, to be neither possessed nor harassed by Satan, and to live in the hands of the Almighty. This is the testimony, and the proof of victory in the battle with Satan. You are able to rebel against Satan, you no longer reveal satanic dispositions in what you live out, but instead live out that which God required that man attain when He created man: normal humanity, normal sense, normal insight, normal resolve to love God, and loyalty to God. Such is the testimony borne by a created being. You say, “We are born in a land of filth, but because of God’s protection, because of His leadership, and because He has conquered us, we have rid ourselves of the influence of Satan. That we can submit today is also the effect of being conquered by God, and it is not because we are good, or because we naturally loved God. It is because God chose us, and predestined us, that we have been conquered today, are able to bear testimony to Him, and can serve Him; so, too, it is because He chose us and protected us, that we have been saved and delivered from the power of Satan, and can leave behind the filth and be purified in the nation of the great red dragon.”

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Inside Truth of the Work of Conquest (2)

For those who are to be made perfect, this step of work of being conquered is indispensable; only once man has been conquered can he experience the work of being made perfect. There is no great value to only performing the role of being conquered, which will not render you fit for use by God. You will have no means of playing your part in spreading the gospel, for you do not pursue life, and do not pursue change and renewal in yourself, and so you have no actual experience of life. During this step-by-step work, you once acted as a service-doer and as a foil, but if ultimately you do not pursue to be Peter, and your pursuit is not according to the path by which Peter was made perfect, then, naturally, you will not experience changes in your disposition. If you are someone who pursues being made perfect, then you will have borne testimony, and you will say: “In this step-by-step work of God, I have accepted God’s work of chastisement and judgment, and though I have endured great suffering, I have come to know how God makes man perfect, I have gained the work done by God, I have had the knowledge of the righteousness of God, and His chastisement has saved me. His righteous disposition has come upon me and brought me blessings and grace; it is His judgment and chastisement that has protected and purified me. If I had not been chastised and judged by God, and if the harsh words of God had not come upon me, I could not have known God, and nor could I have been saved. Today I see: As a created being, not only does one enjoy all things made by the Creator, but, more importantly, all created beings should enjoy the righteous disposition of God and His righteous judgment, because God’s disposition is worthy of man’s enjoyment. As a created being that has been corrupted by Satan, one should enjoy God’s righteous disposition. In His righteous disposition there is chastisement and judgment, and, moreover, there is great love. Although I am incapable of completely gaining God’s love today, I have had the good fortune to see it, and in this I have been blessed.” This is the path walked by those who experience being made perfect, and this is the knowledge of which they speak. Such people are the same as Peter; they have the same experiences as Peter. Such people are also those who have gained life, who possess the truth. When they experience until the very end, during God’s judgment they will surely completely rid themselves of the influence of Satan, and be gained by God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Experiences of Peter: His Knowledge of Chastisement and Judgment

Today, the crucial point is that you must know the essence of man, and must know what you should enter into; you must talk of life entry, and changes in disposition, how to actually be conquered, and how to completely submit to God, how to bear final testimony to God, and how to achieve submission unto death. You must focus on these things, and that which is not realistic or important must first be put aside and disregarded. Today, you should be aware of how to be conquered, and of how people conduct themselves after they have been conquered. You may say you have been conquered, but can you submit unto death? You must be able to follow to the very end regardless of whether there are any prospects, and you must not lose faith in God regardless of the environment. Ultimately, you must achieve two aspects of testimony: the testimony of Job—submission unto death; and the testimony of Peter—the supreme love of God. In one respect, you must be like Job: He lost all material possessions, and was beset by the sickness of the flesh, yet he did not forsake the name of Jehovah. This was Job’s testimony. Peter was able to love God unto death—when he faced his death, he still loved God, when he was put on the cross, he still loved God. He did not think of his own prospects or pursue beautiful hopes or extravagant thoughts, and he sought only to love God and to submit to all of God’s arrangements. Such is the standard you must achieve before you can be considered to have borne testimony, before you become someone who has been made perfect after having been conquered.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Inside Truth of the Work of Conquest (2)

If people believe in God and experience God’s words with a God-fearing heart, then in such people there can be seen God’s salvation and God’s love. These people are able to testify of God; they live out the truth, and what they testify to is also the truth, what God is and God’s disposition. They live amid God’s love and have seen God’s love. If people wish to love God, they must taste God’s loveliness and see God’s loveliness; only then can there be roused in them a God-loving heart, and a heart of loyally expending themselves for God. God does not make people love Him through words or through their imagination, and He does not force people to love Him. Instead, He lets them love Him of their own volition, and He lets them see His loveliness in His work and utterances, after which there is borne in them the love of God. Only in this way can people truly bear testimony to God. People do not love God because they have been urged to do so by others, nor is it a momentary emotional impulse. They love God because they have seen His loveliness, they have seen that there is so much of Him that is worthy of people’s love, because they have seen God’s salvation, wisdom, and wondrous deeds—and as a result, they truly praise God and truly yearn for Him, and there is roused in them such a passion that they could not survive without gaining God. The reason why those who truly testify of God are able to give a resounding testimony to Him is because their testimony rests upon the foundation of the true knowledge and true yearning for God. Such testimony is not offered according to an emotional impulse, but according to their knowledge of God and His disposition. Because they have come to know God, they feel that they must surely testify of God and make all those who yearn for God know God, and be aware of God’s loveliness and His practicality. Like people’s love for God, their testimony is spontaneous; it is real and has real significance and worth. It is not passive or hollow and meaningless. The reason only those who truly love God have the most value and meaning in their lives, the reason only they truly believe in God, is that these people are able to live in God’s light and are able to live for God’s work and management. It is because they do not live in darkness, but live in the light; they do not live meaningless lives, but lives that have been blessed by God. Only those who love God are able to testify of God, only they are God’s witnesses, only they are blessed by God, and only they are able to receive God’s promises.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Those Who Love God Will Forever Live Within His Light

Related Experiential Testimonies

How I Learned to Testify to God

The Harm Done by Showing Off

Related Hymns

Only by Living Out Reality Can You Bear Witness

How to Bear Witness to God in Your Faith

Previous: 39. How to seek to fear God and shun evil

Next: 41. How to serve and testify for God in accordance with His intention

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