Fellowship From the Brother Above – October 1, 2025 (Part One)

Before we answer questions today, let’s first fellowship on a few things relating to preaching the gospel. In these last few gatherings, we’ve been fellowshipping and answering questions about preaching the gospel. I’ve found that many of the questions are quite simple, yet many of you were stumped by them and couldn’t answer them. Those of you who preach the gospel are always stumped by religious people’s notions and questions, which affects the results you achieve in preaching the gospel and testifying to God. What is the problem here? It is not understanding the significance of preaching the gospel. If you don’t understand the significance of preaching the gospel, you won’t know how to testify to God. So, what is the significance of preaching the gospel? What is most critical in preaching the gospel? What is the most essential truth to understand in preaching the gospel? Preaching the gospel is, in fact, propagating God’s words. If you don’t know how to propagate God’s words and are always stumped by religious people’s notions and questions, you will end up being passive when you preach the gospel, constrained at every turn, and ultimately you will fail. Isn’t this foolish? Some people think, “To preach the gospel, you must be able to answer all the questions raised by people from the religious world and resolve all their confusions about the Bible. If you can’t answer all these questions, you can’t preach the gospel.” Is this view correct? (No.) In what way is it wrong? (There are many notions and questions in the religious world, and we can’t resolve them all by ourselves. Only God’s words can resolve all of man’s issues. When we preach the gospel, we should focus on testifying to God’s words and leading people into God’s words. This is crucial.) If you are truly smart, then no matter what questions religious people have, you should just read the words of Almighty God to them, letting them see for themselves whether the words of Almighty God are the truth and whether they are God’s words. If you do this work well, you will achieve results when you preach the gospel. Do you understand what I’ve said? Preaching the gospel is propagating and testifying to God’s words. If religious people truly hear the words of Almighty God, and especially if they truly hear the truths that happen to resolve their notions and questions, won’t the notions and questions in their hearts be easily resolved? (Yes.) Some people don’t know how to propagate God’s words when preaching the gospel. Once a religious person raises a question they can’t answer, they think, “Preaching the gospel is too hard. I can’t answer any of the questions they raise. How can I preach the gospel?” After hitting a wall once or twice, they become negative and don’t dare to preach the gospel anymore. Isn’t this foolish? Tell me, if someone can’t resolve the notions and questions of people in the religious world, can they still preach the gospel? (They can.) Why do I say they can? If you preach the gospel to someone and you can’t answer the questions they raise, you’ll be on the defensive. What should you do then? If you’re smart, you should answer the questions that you can, and propagate God’s words and testify to God in response to the ones you can’t. This is what is meant by being on the offensive. So, are you capable of being on the offensive when you preach the gospel? (We’re rather lacking in this aspect.) Achieving this result requires wisdom. If you’re preaching the gospel to someone who doesn’t want to listen to your fellowship and just raises questions to make things difficult for you, trying to trip you up with their questions, then you will fail in preaching the gospel if you are constrained by these questions. How does a smart person go on the offensive in this situation? No matter what question the potential gospel recipient raises, if you can’t answer it, use God’s words to resolve it. Read the relevant words of God to them. If they have spiritual understanding, their questions will fall apart on their own when they hear the words of God. They will understand without you needing to answer, and they will be willing to investigate the true way. Countering people’s notions and answering their questions by reading them God’s words is the wisest method. Do you understand? (Yes.) So what if someone raises questions about the Bible verses that you can’t answer? (Read them a few passages of God’s words relevant to these questions.) And what if you can’t find any words of God that are relevant to their questions? (If we can’t find any of God’s words that directly resolve their questions, we should find ones that will move them or that best testify to God.) You can resolve that type of question like this. But there is also another wise method, which is simply to avoid the question. When faced with a question you can’t answer, you can choose to avoid it. However, you must be mindful of the approach you take when you avoid questions. You can’t just say directly, “I can’t answer the question you’ve raised, and I can’t explain the verse you’ve cited. Let’s not fellowship on this topic.” If you say that, they will look down on you and laugh at you. So, what should you say? You could say, “Does the question you’ve raised and the verse you’ve found have anything to do with welcoming the Lord? Not in the slightest.” That’s one way to put it. You show them that their question has nothing to do with welcoming the Lord, which directly dismisses their question. Here’s another way: “Will understanding this verse enable you to welcome the Lord? Will it allow you to be caught up before God? It can’t do either of these things, so however well you study this verse, it will be of no use to you. You haven’t welcomed the Lord. You haven’t welcomed the God who, in the last days, expresses the truth and can guide you into all truths. Do you know what this means? It means that you’ve been eliminated, and you’re going to be destroyed in the disasters. In the last days, only Almighty God can express the truth and guide people into all truths. If you don’t accept Him, your life of faith in God will be over, and you will be destined to die in the disasters.” What will happen after you say these things to them? Will they still cling to that question? (No, they’ll start to worry about their own life and death.) They won’t be able to refute you. Also, some people listen to negative propaganda and no longer want to believe; they want to abandon the true way. What should you say to resolve this? What is the best, wisest, single thing to say that can solve this problem and awaken them at once? You probably can’t come up with anything. So I’ll tell you: Just say to them, “Can you guarantee that believing negative propaganda will enable you to welcome the Lord? Do you know the consequences of believing negative propaganda? First, you won’t welcome the Lord; second, you will have betrayed Almighty God, who can express the truth and guide people into all truths. Your outcome will be destruction.” Are these words powerful? (They are.) If you know to say things like this, you’ll be able to solve some problems. God’s work doesn’t align with people’s notions: His wisdom is in this. But if you refuse to accept Almighty God because His work doesn’t align with your notions, then you will be destroyed by God no matter what notion you use as a reason for your refusal. No matter how justified your refusal is, your fate is sealed—destruction, with no chance of survival. Is this not a fact? (It is.) If you can’t see this fact, then you are blind. So, if people get stuck in their notions and in negative propaganda, and they don’t accept God’s work of the last days and reject all the truths expressed by God, then they are in trouble and are headed for destruction. God is only doing this stage of work once in the last days; this is the final stage of God’s work to save mankind. This is the last chance for people to attain salvation. If you reject God in this final period, the consequences will be truly severe! Perhaps you’ve found a reason to leave Almighty God, but leaving Almighty God is equivalent to rejecting all the truths expressed by God in the last days. If you betray the God who expresses the truth, you will be condemned and punished. It doesn’t matter how well-founded the reason you hold to is; it cannot allow you to escape punishment. Is this not a fact? (It is.) You acknowledge that the words of Almighty God are all truth, yet you have notions about Almighty God. You believe that Almighty God is just a person and cannot possibly be God. Then where do the truths He expresses come from? Are these truths not the expressions of God? Since He can express these truths, how can you dare say He is just a prophet? Prophets cannot express the truth; they can only convey some words of warning from God. They cannot express a single word of truth. Therefore, no matter what reason you use to reject Almighty God and abandon all the truths He has expressed, you are betraying God and giving up on His salvation, and your day of destruction has come. Is this correct? (It is.) In the process of investigating the true way, any notion or any piece of negative propaganda is a ticking time bomb. Those who accept negative propaganda and stop investigating will be blown to smithereens, and will never have another chance to be saved. God is expressing the truth in the last days to save people. If, at this time, you abandon the truths expressed by God because of various notions or various pieces of negative propaganda, then you are giving up your chance to attain salvation and you will have no outcome. Your soul is one that resists God; you are a devil and a Satan, and you deserve to be punished.

Some people say, “It’s a fact that God became incarnate to express the truth, but I don’t approve of the man used by the Holy Spirit. It’s wrong for him to get angry and prune me; that’s unloving.” If they have notions about me, what will they say? “Your sermons are based on God’s words, so if I read more of God’s words, I can preach sermons too. I don’t necessarily have to listen to your sermons.” Is what they say correct? (No.) People can indeed have some thoughts and understandings by reading the words of Almighty God, so why is what they say wrong? (People can talk about their own thoughts and understandings after reading the words of Almighty God, but these thoughts and understandings are not necessarily a pure comprehension. That’s one aspect. On the other hand, you are the man used by the Holy Spirit, directly perfected and used by the Holy Spirit, so there is much of the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment and illumination in your sermons. This is something ordinary people cannot achieve. If they don’t listen to your sermons, their life will suffer a loss.) That’s partially correct, but you haven’t gotten to the heart of the matter. The words fellowshipped by the man used by the Holy Spirit all contain the enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit. Is this the same as the ordinary enlightenment and illumination of the Holy Spirit? (No.) How is it different? The man used by the Holy Spirit has life experience of being perfected, has some experiential understanding of the truth, and on top of that, he is used by the Holy Spirit. The enlightenment he receives from the Holy Spirit is different from ordinary enlightenment from the Holy Spirit; at the very least, it is more profound. Let’s give an example. Say you’ve believed for three to five years and have also received the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment. How far does the little enlightenment you’ve received fall short of the enlightenment received by the man used by the Holy Spirit? Does the little enlightenment you’ve received contain any understanding from your life experience? (No.) The enlightenment received by the man used by the Holy Spirit can resolve all kinds of problems in the church and can lead God’s chosen people into the truth reality. Can the little enlightenment you’ve received achieve such results? Can it lead and supply God’s chosen people? (No.) Then the enlightenment you’ve received is too shallow. Therefore, although the Holy Spirit works in both the man used by the Holy Spirit and you, there’s a difference of stature, and the difference is huge. Don’t think, “The Holy Spirit works in me too, so I can preach sermons just the same.” Isn’t that thought too naive? How many years have you believed in God? How much life experience do you have? Your little bit of experiential understanding might be able to supply some new believers, but can it supply those with life experience? Can it supply leaders and workers at all levels? It can’t. Then can you resolve all the problems of all the churches? Can you guide the leaders and workers in their work? You can’t do any of these things. Therefore, the work the Holy Spirit does in you is different from the work He does in the man He uses. The difference is enormous. Ordinary people can’t see this clearly. Look, when I hold gatherings and fellowship with you, no matter what questions you raise, I can resolve them for you completely, and I don’t need to prepare in advance. Whatever the problem, I fellowship on it directly, and everyone can benefit from listening to me. Can you achieve this result? (No.) Why can’t you? (We don’t have the truth reality, and we can’t see things clearly.) It’s because your experience is too shallow, and there are many things you can’t see clearly. So how many more years of experience would you need to be able to share experiential understanding on the same level as me and do the same work as me? (Many more years.) So this is not a simple matter. People must focus on pursuing the truth and on experiencing God’s work, and gain the truths expressed by God in the last days. This is truly important for them! If people don’t gain the truth, they can’t see anything clearly, and they can’t do any real work. Look at all the theologians and so-called Bible scholars in the religious world today. Why can’t they see the significance of God expressing all these truths in the last days? This shows that studying the Bible is useless. No matter how people study the Bible, it’s useless. The more a person studies the Bible, the more foolish they become, and the more they study the Bible, the less they know God. The smartest people are those who focus on the work of the Holy Spirit. Most people are not able to believe this. The Bible doesn’t contain God’s work of the last days, nor the truths expressed by God in the last days. The Bible only records God’s work in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. By studying the Bible, you can only come to know the first two stages of God’s work; you cannot gain all the truths expressed by God in the last days. So, even if you study all the commandments and regulations in the Bible until you know them inside out, and you abide by them all, what will it achieve? Can you attain salvation? Can you follow God’s will? If you can’t achieve any of these, you won’t be able to enter the kingdom of heaven. This has been explained thoroughly. Therefore, you cannot gain the truth or life by studying the Bible. Is this easy to comprehend? (It is.) But religious people can’t comprehend it; they don’t have this comprehension ability. So tell me, are these so-called Bible scholars and experts not the most foolish of people? (They are.) They’ve studied the Book of Revelation for two thousand years and still haven’t figured it out. They don’t know what the prophecies in Revelation are about or how they will be fulfilled. That’s why I say that those who study the Bible are the most foolish of people. You could study the Bible for ten thousand years and you still wouldn’t know God. You would never know God! The Bible is not the entirety of what God has expressed; it only records a few of the words expressed by God in the Age of Law and the Age of Grace. Those are the shallowest of words, merely used to pave the way for God’s work of the last days. They are not at all the truths expressed by God in the last days to cleanse and save people. Therefore, there are basically no truths in the Bible. The Bible only testifies that God created the heavens and earth and all things, and it records historical facts such as God issuing laws and commandments to guide people’s lives, and doing the work of redemption to forgive people’s sins. But as for specifically how God saves and perfects mankind, how His management plan is to be completed, and what the group of people that are made complete by God will be like—these things are not recorded in the Bible. Why are they not recorded there? In the Age of Grace, God’s work had not yet reached that extent, and God had not yet expressed these truths, so how could the Bible have recorded them in advance? These are the truths that God expresses in the last days, just as the Lord Jesus prophesied: “I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. However, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:12–13). When will “the Spirit of truth” come? In the last days. In the last days, Almighty God has come and is doing the work of expressing the truth and guiding people into all truths. No matter how many years you study the Bible, and no matter whether you believe in Jehovah God of the Age of Law or the Lord Jesus of the Age of Grace, if you do not accept Almighty God, you will be destroyed and your life of faith in God will be over. This is absolute. Why do I say it is absolute? God has disclosed this mystery in the last days: the mystery of who can enter the kingdom of heaven, who will have a good outcome and destination, and on what basis God determines people’s outcomes. Almighty God has unveiled this mystery in the last days. Almighty God says: “I determine the destination of each person not on the basis of age, seniority, or amount of suffering, much less on how pitiable they are, but according to whether they possess the truth. There is no other choice but this” (The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Prepare Sufficient Good Deeds for Your Destination). God determines people’s outcomes based solely on whether they have the truth. Therefore, if you do not accept the truths expressed by Almighty God, you will not gain the truth and life. Then, even if you have studied the Bible until you know it inside and out, it will be of no use: God will say you are a foolish virgin and an evildoer, so your outcome will be to suffer punishment. You must see this clearly! There are some people now who, after accepting Almighty God, hear some negative propaganda and withdraw, or are misled and taken away by their pastor. They are foolish virgins; they are people who betray God. They saw that Almighty God had expressed all truths, yet they still betrayed Almighty God. So what is their outcome? Perdition and destruction. In the churches around the world, there are some people who, after believing for two or three months, or three to five months, or even a year or two, withdraw and stop believing. No matter why they withdraw—whether it’s because they listened to negative propaganda, were misled, or had difficulties in their lives—they will not gain the truth and life since they do not love or accept the truth. So they are foolish virgins, and they do not have the blessing to enter the kingdom of heaven. They will absolutely not be able to enter the kingdom of heaven. Can we say this? (We can.)

What is the most fundamental thing that a person can gain from believing in God? Gaining the truth—that’s what’s most fundamental. Only by gaining the truth can you gain life; if you don’t gain the truth, you won’t gain life. Even if you’ve accepted Almighty God’s work of the last days, if you ultimately fail to gain the truth, you will still be eliminated. Only by gaining the truth can people have eternal life. What does “eternal life” refer to? It means you have understood and come to know all the truths expressed by God in the last days, and you have come to fear God, submit to God, and know God. At this point, hasn’t the truth become your life? When you gain the truth, you gain eternal life. If you don’t gain the truth, you will never be able to fear God, submit to God, or know God. So, will you have gained eternal life? (No.) You will not have gained eternal life because you haven’t gained the truth. In the last days, God has expressed all the truths that enable people to attain salvation; He did not express these truths in the first two stages of His work. Therefore, to gain the truth, you must welcome the God who expresses the truth in the last days. Only by gaining the truths that God expresses in the last days can you come to fear God and shun evil and to submit to, know, and love God. Once you have achieved all of this, you will possess the truth reality. Entering into any aspect of the truth reality depends on understanding the truth. Without understanding the truth, people cannot fear God and shun evil; without understanding the truth, they cannot submit to God; and without understanding the truth, they certainly cannot know or love God. Only when you have understood these truths and entered into these truth realities will you have gained eternal life, and then you will never die. Therefore, gaining the truth in one’s belief in God is the absolute foundation, the absolute key. Those who don’t pursue the truth are just drifting along, believing in a muddled way, and in the end, they will all be eliminated. Can we say this? (Yes.) Now, some people become negative when they encounter even a little difficulty in their duty. They say, “I can’t do the work, and I don’t know how to act according to the principles. Believing in the Lord Jesus seems so easy—all you have to do is pray and attend gatherings. Why is believing in Almighty God so hard? I don’t want to believe in Him anymore!” What kind of person is this? (A foolish person.) Is gaining the truth and life in one’s belief in God such a simple matter? Can you do it without forsaking things? Without suffering? Without paying a price? You haven’t done any of these things, yet you still want to gain the truth, and still want to enter the kingdom of heaven and obtain eternal life. Isn’t that just daydreaming? (It is.) Is entering into the truth reality such a simple matter? (No.) You think it’s like believing in the Lord Jesus, where all you have to do is call yourself a believer and attend a gathering once a week. But what can you gain by believing that way? Can you gain God’s promise? Can you gain eternal life? You can’t! Those who believe in the Lord Jesus cannot gain God’s promise, much less eternal life. So how do we interpret the words, “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life”? This statement is just a prophecy. If you welcome the Son of man who expresses the truth in the last days and accept God’s judgment of the last days, you will be blessed and will be able to gain eternal life. In other words, it’s telling you that merely believing in the Lord Jesus and having your sins forgiven is not enough to gain eternal life. It is crucial that you welcome the incarnate God of the last days and accept His judgment of the last days; only then can you gain eternal life. Only when you have welcomed the Son of man who has come to do the work of judgment in the last days—Almighty God—and accepted all the truths He has expressed will you be someone who truly believes in and follows the Son. Then you will be able to gain eternal life. Therefore, the statement, “He that believes on the Son has everlasting life,” is a prophecy. It does not mean that you will have eternal life just because your sins have been forgiven through your belief in the Lord Jesus. The Lord did not promise this to man. Of all the Lord’s promises to man, the most practical one is: “When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). Now this is a promise. If you gain all the truths expressed by God in the last days, you will be qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven. If you do not gain them, you will not be qualified to do so. Therefore, if those who believe in the Lord Jesus do not welcome Almighty God who expresses the truth, and do not accept all the truths into which Almighty God guides them, then all their previous efforts in their faith will have been for nothing, and their faith will have been in vain. Have you understood this? (Yes.) So, is there anyone who still says, “Why is believing in Almighty God so hard? We have to do our duty, forsake everything, endure the slander, judgment, and condemnation of the religious world, and even be rejected and persecuted by our loved ones. Why do we have to go through these things to believe in Almighty God?” Have you understood this? If you don’t understand the significance of suffering and paying a price to gain the truth in your faith, and you don’t understand the significance of experiencing various trials and refinements, then you will have no drive in your faith. It will be impossible for you to pursue the truth, and absolutely impossible to loyally follow and submit to God unto death. People who don’t pursue the truth cannot stand firm. One day they may encounter something and fall; another day they may hear some negative propaganda and withdraw. Tell me, is this a real danger? (Yes.) So, can you be certain right now that you can enter the kingdom of heaven? Can you be certain that you can gain eternal life? If you don’t pursue the truth, one day you may encounter some setback or failure and collapse. You won’t be able to stand firm at all, let alone enter the kingdom of heaven and gain eternal life. That would just be a daydream. Can you accept what I’m saying? (Yes.) How do you feel when you hear me preach this way? (We feel that you speak directly and get straight to the root of the problem. You are very thorough.) When I preach, I just speak the plain truth. What I say are true words, words from the heart, without any doctrine at all. I don’t care if my words pierce people’s hearts or if they feel put off after hearing them. I just say whatever is on my mind. So, is it good for me to preach this way? (Yes. Preaching this way can resolve many of our notions and imaginings. For example, we’ve been having some wishful thoughts about entering the kingdom of heaven, and through your preaching, we have gained some understanding of this.) If I don’t speak clearly and thoroughly, there will be many things you won’t be able to see clearly, and your problems won’t be resolved. So, when I speak this way, it is very beneficial for you. Right now, some people have their own notions and imaginings about entering the kingdom of heaven. They want to enter the kingdom of heaven and gain eternal life, but they don’t want to suffer or pay a price. What kind of person are they? Do they think gaining the truth is all plain sailing? Is it like believing in the Lord, where all you have to do is pray and confess your sins, and then your sins are forgiven and the Lord’s grace will save you? Nothing comes that cheap! Having your sins forgiven is easy, but entering the kingdom of heaven and gaining eternal life is not easy at all. You need a pass, and this pass is personally verified by God. If you don’t go through the suffering of many trials, if you can’t forsake everything you have, if you can’t truly follow God, and if you can’t give your all in your duty, you’re just dreaming if you still want a pass to enter the kingdom of heaven! You think that believing in Almighty God is the same as believing in the Lord Jesus—that all you have to do is attend a gathering once a week, and for the rest of the time, you can just live your life and indulge your flesh as you please. Can you cast off your corrupt dispositions by believing in God this way? Can you attain salvation? Do you know what it means to attain salvation? Do you think attaining salvation is as easy as receiving forgiveness for your sins? What exactly does attaining salvation refer to? It mainly refers to casting off one’s corrupt dispositions, breaking free from Satan’s influence, and achieving true submission to and worship of God. Only people who achieve this are qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven. If you enter the kingdom of heaven but have not cast off your corrupt dispositions or broken free from Satan’s influence, what will the consequence be? You will still be punished for resisting God. Even if your sins have been forgiven, if you have not cast off your corrupt dispositions and you still live under Satan’s power, are you a devil or a human? (A devil.) Can God permit devils to enter the kingdom of heaven? (No.) The scriptures say: “Without holiness no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14). Only once people have cast off their corrupt dispositions and can submit to and bear witness to God are they qualified to enter the kingdom of heaven. Have you understood this now? (Yes.)