344. Now is the Age of Kingdom. Whether you have entered into this new age depends on whether you have entered into the reality of God’s words, on whether His words have become your life reality. The words of God appear to every person so that, in the end, all people will live in the world of God’s words, and His words will enlighten and illuminate each person from within. If, during this time, you are careless in reading the words of God, and have no interest in His words, then this shows that your state is wrong. If you are unable to enter into the Age of Word, then the Holy Spirit will not work in you; if you have entered into this age, He will do His work. What can you do at the onset of the Age of Word in order to gain the work of the Holy Spirit? In this age, and among you, God shall accomplish the following fact: that every person shall live out the words of God, shall be able to put the truth into practice, and shall love God with their heart; that all people shall use the words of God as their foundation and as their reality, and shall have God-fearing hearts; and that, through practicing the words of God, man shall then reign with God. This is the work to be accomplished by God. Can you go without reading the words of God? Today, there are many who feel that they cannot go even a day or two without reading His words. They have to read His words every day, and if time does not permit, listening to them will suffice. This is the feeling that the Holy Spirit gives people, and it is the way He begins to move them. That is, He controls people through words, so that they can enter into the reality of the words of God. If, after just one day without eating and drinking the words of God, you feel darkness and thirst, and cannot stand it, this shows that you have been moved by the Holy Spirit, and that He has not turned away from you. You are, then, one who is in this stream. However, if after a day or two without eating and drinking the words of God, you don’t feel a thing, if you have no thirst, and are not at all moved, this shows that the Holy Spirit has turned away from you. This means, then, that there is something wrong with the state within you; you have not entered into the Age of Word, and you are one of those who have fallen behind. God uses words to control people; you feel good if you eat and drink the words of God, and if you do not, you have no path to follow. The words of God become people’s food, and the force that drives them. The Bible says that “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Today, God will bring this work to completion, and He shall accomplish this fact in you. How is it that in the past, people could go many days without reading the words of God and yet be able to eat and work as usual, but this is not the case today? In this age, God chiefly uses words to control all. Man is judged and perfected through the words of God, and then finally taken into the kingdom by these words. Only the words of God can supply the life of man, and only the words of God can give man light and a path of practice, particularly in the Age of Kingdom. As long as you do not stray from the reality of God’s words, eating and drinking His words each day, God will make you perfect.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Age of Kingdom Is the Age of Word

345. Within God’s words are the truths people need to possess, things that are the most beneficial and helpful to people. They are the tonic and sustenance your bodies need, things that help people restore their normal humanity, and the truths people should be equipped with. The more you practice God’s words, the more quickly your life will grow; the more you practice God’s words, the clearer the truth will become to you. As your stature grows, you will see things of the spiritual realm more clearly, and you will have more strength to triumph over Satan. Much of the truth that you do not understand will be made clear when you practice God’s words. Most people are satisfied with merely understanding the literal aspect of God’s words, and focus on equipping themselves with doctrines rather than on experiencing and going deeper in practice—is that not the way of the Pharisees? Can one gain the reality of the phrase “having God’s words as one’s life” by doing this? People’s life can only grow by practicing God’s words; it doesn’t grow simply from reading them. If you believe that as long as you understand God’s words you will have life and stature, then your understanding is skewed. Truly understanding God’s words is achieved when you practice the truth; you must understand that “only by practicing the truth can it ever be understood.” Today, after reading the words of God, you can merely say that you are aware of God’s words, but you cannot say that you understand them. Some say that one must first understand the truth before they can practice it, but this is only partially correct, not entirely accurate. Before you have knowledge of a certain truth, that’s when you have not experienced that truth. Feeling that you understand that truth when you hear about it in a sermon is not truly understanding it—this is just taking possession of the literal aspect of that truth, without understanding the true meaning therein. Just knowing the surface layer of the truth does not mean that you actually understand the truth or have knowledge of it; the true meaning of the truth comes from having experienced it. Therefore, only when you experience the truth can you understand it, and only through experience can you grasp the hidden parts of it. Deepening your experience is the only way to grasp the connotations of the truth, and to understand the essence of the truth. Therefore, only when you have the truth are you able to range freely throughout the world. If you do not have the truth, never mind getting a lot of religious people to defer to you—even your family members will not defer to you. Without the truth you’re like a drifting snowflake, but with the truth you can be happy and free, and no one can attack you. No matter how strong some theory is, it cannot overcome the truth. With the truth, you can turn heaven and earth upside down and move mountains and seas; without the truth, even maggots could break through your city. This is an obvious fact.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Once You Understand the Truth, You Should Put It Into Practice

346. God does not require of people the mere ability to talk about reality; that would be too easy, would it not? Why, then, does God speak of life entry? Why does He talk about transformation? If people are capable only of empty talk about reality, then can they achieve a transformation in their disposition? Training a group to become the good soldiers of the kingdom does not mean training them to become people who can only talk about reality or who can boast; rather, it means training them to become people who can live out God’s words at all times, remain unyielding no matter what setbacks they face, and live at all times by God’s words and not return to the world. This is the reality of which God speaks; this is God’s requirement of man. Thus, do not regard the reality spoken of by God as being overly simple. Mere enlightenment from the Holy Spirit does not equal the possession of reality. Such is not the stature of man—it is the grace of God, to which man contributes nothing. Each person must endure Peter’s sufferings, and, even more, possess Peter’s glory, which they live out after they have gained the work of God. Only this can be called reality. Do not think that you possess reality just because you can talk about it; that is a fallacy. This way of thinking does not accord with God’s intentions and has no actual significance. Do not say such things in the future—extinguish such sayings! All those with an absurd understanding of God’s words are nonbelievers. They do not have any real knowledge, much less any real stature; they are people who lack insight and reality. In other words, all those who live outside of the essence of God’s words are nonbelievers. Those deemed nonbelievers by people are beasts in the eyes of God, and those deemed nonbelievers by God are people who do not have God’s words as their life. It can therefore be said that those who do not possess the reality of God’s words and who fail to live His words out are nonbelievers. God’s wish is to cause everyone to live out the reality of His words—not merely to have everyone talk about reality, but, more than that, to enable everyone to live out the reality of His words.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Putting the Truth Into Practice Is Possessing Reality

347. Coming to a genuine understanding of God’s words is no simple matter. Do not think this way: “I can interpret the literal meaning of God’s words, and everyone says my interpretation is good, and gives me a thumbs-up, so this means I understand God’s words.” That is not the same as understanding God’s words. If you have gained some light from within God’s utterances, and you have gotten a sense of the true meaning of His words, and if you can express the intention behind His words and what effect they will ultimately achieve—if you have a clear understanding of all of these things—you can be considered to have some level of understanding of God’s words. Thus, understanding God’s words is not all that simple. Just because you can give a flowery, exaggerated explanation of the literal meaning of God’s words does not mean you understand them. No matter how much you can explain their literal meaning, your explanation is still based on human imagination and a human way of thinking. It is useless! How can you understand God’s words? The key is to seek the truth from within them. Only in this way can you truly understand God’s words. God never speaks words that are empty. Each sentence He utters contains details that are certain to be exposed further in His words, and they may be expressed differently. Man cannot fathom the ways in which God expresses the truth. God’s utterances are very profound and cannot be easily fathomed with human thinking. People can discover roughly the entire meaning of every aspect of the truth as long as they make an effort. The details that remain are to be filled in for them during their subsequent experience, by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. One part is pondering and understanding God’s words and seeking their specific content by reading them. Another part is understanding the meaning of God’s words by experiencing them and obtaining enlightenment from the Holy Spirit. Through constant progress in these two aspects, you can come to understand God’s word. If you interpret it on a literal, textual level or from your own thinking and imaginings, then even if you explain it with florid embellishment, you still don’t really understand the truth, and it is all still based on human thinking and imaginings. It is not gained from the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. People are liable to interpret God’s words based on their notions and imaginings, and they may even misinterpret God’s words out of context, making them liable to misunderstand and judge God, and this is troublesome. Therefore, the truth is mainly gained by understanding God’s words and being enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Being able to understand and explain the literal meaning of God’s word does not mean you have gained the truth. If understanding the literal meaning of God’s word meant you understood the truth, then you would only need to have a little education and knowledge, so why would you need the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit? Is God’s work something that the human mind can comprehend? Therefore, understanding the truth is not based on human notions or imaginings. You need the enlightenment, illumination, and guidance of the Holy Spirit to have real experiential knowledge. This is the process of understanding and gaining the truth, and it is also a necessary condition.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. How to Know Man’s Nature

348. If you have read a lot of God’s words but only understand the literal meaning and do not try to experience God’s words through real encounters, then you will not know God’s words, and for you, God’s words will not be life, but just dead words. And if you only hold to dead words, then you cannot grasp the essence of God’s words, nor will you know His intentions. Only when you experience His words in your actual experiences will the spiritual meaning of God’s words open itself to you. It is only through experience that you can grasp the spiritual meaning of many truths and unlock the mysteries of God’s words. If you do not put God’s words into practice, then no matter how clearly God speaks, all that you have in your hands are empty words and doctrines, which become your religious regulations. Is this not exactly what the Pharisees did? If you practice and experience God’s word, it becomes practical to you; if you do not seek to practice it, then God’s word to you is little more than the legend of the third heaven. In fact, the process of believing in God for you is the process of experiencing His words and of being gained by Him. To put it a bit more clearly, to believe in God is to come to know and understand His words, and to experience and live out His words; this is the reality of your belief in God. If you believe in God just hoping for eternal life, without pursuing practicing God’s words and entering into the truth reality, then you’re all fools. This would be like going to a feast and only looking at the delicious dishes and making a mental note of them, without actually tasting any of them, or eating or drinking any of them. Would such a person not be a fool?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Once You Understand the Truth, You Should Put It Into Practice

349. God’s requirements of people are not all that high. As long as people practice diligently and earnestly, they would receive a “pass grade.” Truth be told, achieving the understanding, knowledge, and comprehension of the truth is more complex than practicing the truth. First practice as much as you understand and practice what you have comprehended. In this way, you will be able to gradually achieve the true knowledge and comprehension of the truth. These are the steps and the means by which the Holy Spirit works. If you do not practice submission in this way, you will not achieve anything. If you always act of your own volition, and do not practice submission, will the Holy Spirit work on you? Does the Holy Spirit work as you wish? Or does He work according to what you lack, and on the basis of God’s words? If this is not clear to you, you won’t be able to enter the truth reality. Why is it that most people have spent much effort reading God’s words, but merely have knowledge and cannot say anything about a practical path afterward? Do you think that possessing knowledge amounts to possessing the truth? Is that not a confused point of view? You are able to speak as many pieces of knowledge as there are grains of sand on a beach, yet none of it contains any practical path. Are you not trying to fool people by doing this? Are you not making an empty show, with no substance to back it up? All such behavior is harmful to people! The higher the theory and the more it is devoid of reality, the more it is incapable of taking people into reality. The higher the theory, the more it makes you rebel against and oppose God. Do not cosset spiritual theory—it has no use! Some people have been talking about spiritual theory for decades, and they have become great spiritual figures, but ultimately, they still fail to enter the truth reality. Because they have not practiced or experienced the words of God, they have no principles or path for practice. People like this are themselves without the truth reality, so how can they bring other people onto the right track of faith in God? They can only lead people astray. Is this not harming others and themselves? At the very least, you must be able to solve real problems that are right in front of you. That is to say, you must be able to practice and experience the words of God, and to put the truth into practice. Only this is submission to God. Only when you have life entry are you qualified to work for God, and only when you expend yourself for God sincerely can you be accepted by God. Don’t always make grand statements and talk of bombastic theory; this is not real. Pontificating on spiritual theory to make people admire you is not bearing witness to God, but rather flaunting yourself. It is of absolutely no benefit to people and does not edify them, and can easily lead to them worshiping spiritual theory and not focusing on practicing the truth—and is this not leading people astray? Carrying on like this will give rise to numerous empty theories, as well as to lots of regulations that will constrain and entrap people; it’s truly mortifying. So say more that is real, talk more about problems that actually exist, spend more time seeking the truth to solve real problems; this is what’s most important. Don’t delay in learning to practice the truth: This is the path of entry into reality. Do not take other people’s experiential knowledge as your own private property and hold it up for others to admire. You must have your own life entry. Only by knowing how to practice the truth and by submitting to God will you have life entry. This should be what every person practices and focuses on.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Focus More on Reality

350. When you are trying to comprehend the truth, do you link it to your own states? In real life, you first have to think about what truths the people, events, and things you have encountered relate to; it is within these truths that you can find God’s intentions and connect what you have encountered with His intentions. If you do not know which aspects of the truth the things you have encountered relate to but instead go directly to seek God’s intentions, this is a blind approach which cannot achieve results. If you want to seek the truth and understand God’s intentions, you first need to see what category the things happening to you fall under, and which aspects of the truth they relate to, find the specific truth in the word of God that corresponds to what you’re experiencing, and then look for a path of practice that you can follow within that truth. In this way, you can indirectly come to understand God’s intentions. Seeking and practicing the truth is not mechanically applying a regulation or following a formula. The truth is not formulaic, neither is it a fixed rule. It is not dead—it is life, it is a living thing, and it is the law that a created being must follow in their life and the law a human must have in order to exist. This is something that you must try to appreciate more through experience. Regardless of the depth of your experiences, you can never do without God’s word or the truth. The disposition of God that you come to understand, as well as the possessions and being of God that you come to know, are all expressed in His words; they are inextricably linked with the truth. God’s disposition and what He has and is are, in themselves, the truth; the truth is an authentic manifestation of God’s disposition and what He has and is. It makes what He has and is concrete and explicit; it tells you more straightforwardly what God likes and what He does not like, what He wants you to do and what He does not permit you to do, which people He hates and which people He is pleased with. Behind the truths that God expresses, people can see His happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy, as well as His essence—these are the revelations of His disposition. Aside from knowing what God has and is and understanding His disposition from His word, what’s most important for people is to reach this understanding and knowledge through real experience. If a person disengages from real life, it will be impossible for them to know God. Even if there are some people like this who gain some knowledge from the word of God, their knowledge is limited to doctrines and words, and there’s a gap between this and what God Himself is really like.

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

351. Since people began to believe in God, they have harbored many incorrect intentions. When you are not putting the truth into practice, you feel that all your intentions are correct, but when something happens to you, you will see that there are many incorrect intentions within you. Thus, when God makes people perfect, He causes them to realize that there are many notions within them that are obstructing their knowledge of God. When you recognize that your intentions are wrong, if you are able to avoid practicing according to your notions and intentions, and are able to bear witness for God and stand firm in your position in all that happens to you, this proves that you have rebelled against the flesh. When you rebel against the flesh, there will inevitably be a battle within you. Satan will try and make you follow it, will try and make you follow the notions of the flesh and protect the interests of the flesh—but God’s words will enlighten and illuminate you within, and at this time it is up to you whether you follow God or follow Satan. When God asks people to put the truth into practice, it’s primarily to prune the things inside them, and to prune their thoughts and notions that are not in accordance with God’s intentions—the Holy Spirit touches them in their hearts and enlightens and illuminates them. So behind everything that happens is a battle: Every time people put the truth into practice, or practice loving God, there is a great battle, and though all may seem well with their flesh, in the depths of their hearts a life-and-death battle will, in fact, be going on—and only after this intense battle, after a tremendous amount of reflection, can victory or defeat be decided. One does not know whether to laugh or cry. Because many of the intentions within people are wrong, or else because much of God’s work does not align with their notions, when people put the truth into practice, a great battle is waged behind the scenes. Having put this truth into practice, behind the scenes, people will have shed countless tears of sadness before finally making up their mind to satisfy God. It is because of this battle that people endure suffering and refinement; this is true suffering. When the battle comes upon you, if you are able to truly stand on the side of God, you will be able to satisfy God. While practicing the truth, it is inevitable that one will suffer inside; if, when they put the truth into practice, everything within people were right, then they would not need to be made perfect by God, and there would be no battle, and they would not suffer. It is because there are many things within people that are not fit for use by God, and because there is much rebellious disposition of the flesh, that people need to learn the lesson of rebelling against the flesh more profoundly. This is what God calls the suffering that He asked man to undergo with Him. When you encounter difficulties, hurry up and pray to God, “God! I wish to satisfy You, I wish to endure the final suffering to satisfy Your heart, and regardless of how great the setbacks I encounter, still I must satisfy You. Even if I have to give up my life, still I must satisfy You!” With this resolve, when you pray thus, you will be able to stand firm in your testimony. Each time they put the truth into practice, each time they undergo refinement, each time they are tried, and each time God’s work comes upon them, people must endure extreme pain. All of this is a test for people, and so within all of them there is a battle. This is the actual price that they pay. Reading more of God’s words and running about more is also a kind of price. It is what people ought to do, it is their duty, and the responsibility that they should fulfill, but people must let go of that within them which needs to be let go of. If you do not, then no matter how great your external suffering, no matter how much you run about, all will be in vain! Which is to say, only the changes within you can determine whether your external suffering is of value. When your internal disposition has changed and you have put the truth into practice, then all your external suffering will gain God’s approval; if there has been no change in your internal disposition, then no matter how great the suffering you endure or how much you run about on the outside, there will be no approval from God—and suffering that is not confirmed by God is in vain. Thus, whether the price you have paid is approved of by God is determined by whether or not there has been a change in you, and by whether or not you put the truth into practice and rebel against your own intentions and notions to attain the satisfaction of God’s intentions, the knowledge of God, and loyalty to God. No matter how much you run about, if you have never known to rebel against your own intentions, but only pursue outward deeds and outward zeal, and never pay any attention to your life, then your suffering will have been in vain.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Loving God Is Truly Believing in God

352. To be precise, taking Peter’s path in one’s faith means to walk the path of pursuing the truth, which is also the path of truly knowing oneself so as to achieve a change in disposition. Only by walking the path of Peter will one be on the path of being perfected by God. One must be clear on how, exactly, to walk Peter’s path, as well as how to put it into practice. Firstly, one must put aside one’s own intentions, improper pursuits, and even family and all things of one’s own flesh, and be wholeheartedly devoted; that is to say, one must completely devote oneself to the word of God, focus on eating and drinking God’s words, concentrate on seeking the truth and God’s desires in His words, and try to grasp God’s intentions in everything. This is the most fundamental and vital method of practice. This was how Peter practiced after seeing Jesus, and it is only by practicing in this way that one can achieve the best results. Wholehearted devotion to the word of God primarily involves seeking the truth and God’s desires within His words, focusing on grasping the intentions of God, and understanding and obtaining more truth from God’s words. When reading God’s words, Peter was not focused on understanding doctrines, much less was he focused on obtaining theological knowledge. Instead, he concentrated on understanding the truth and grasping God’s intentions, as well as achieving knowledge of God’s disposition and loveliness. Peter also attempted to know the various corrupt states of man, man’s nature essence, and man’s actual shortcomings from God’s words. Only in this way could he easily meet God’s requirements in order to satisfy Him. Peter had so many accurate practices when it came to God’s words. This was most in accordance with God’s intentions, and it was the best way a person could cooperate while experiencing God’s work. When experiencing the hundreds of trials sent by God, Peter strictly matched himself up against every word of God’s judgment and exposure of man—and every word of His requirements of man—examined himself, and strived to accurately grasp the meaning of God’s words. He earnestly pondered everything that Jesus said to him, keeping each word firmly in mind—this approach yielded very good results. By practicing in this way, he was able to know himself through God’s words, and he not only came to know the various corrupt states and shortcomings of man, but he also came to know man’s essence and nature. This is what it means to truly know oneself. From God’s words, Peter, in one regard, achieved true knowledge of himself, and in another regard, he saw the righteous disposition God expressed, what God has and is, God’s intentions for His work, and God’s requirements of mankind. From these words he truly came to know God. He came to know God’s disposition and His essence; he came to know and understand what God has and is, as well as God’s loveliness and God’s requirements for man. Although God did not speak back then as much as He does today, results in these aspects were nevertheless achieved in Peter. This was a rare and precious thing. Peter went through hundreds of trials; he did not suffer in vain. He not only came to know himself from the words and the work of God, but he also came to know God. In addition, within God’s words he especially paid attention to God’s requirements of man and the aspects in which man should satisfy God so as to be in accordance with God’s intentions, and he was able to apply great effort to these things, achieving full clarity. This was extremely beneficial with regard to his life entry. No matter which aspect of God’s words it was, so long as those words were able to serve as life and were the truth, Peter engraved them in his heart, where he would ponder and comprehend them frequently. Having heard the words of Jesus, he was able to take them to heart, which shows that he was especially focused on God’s words, and he truly achieved results in the end. That is, he was able to deftly put the words of God into practice, accurately practice the truth and act according to God’s intentions, do things entirely in accordance with God’s desires, and give up his own personal opinions and imaginings. In this way, Peter entered into the reality of God’s words. Peter’s service was in accordance with God’s intentions primarily because he had done this.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. How to Walk the Path of Peter

353. If you can devote your heart, body, and all of your genuine love to God, place them before Him, be absolutely submissive toward Him, and be absolutely considerate of His intentions, and not act for the flesh, for family, and for your own desires, but for the interests of God’s house, taking God’s words as your principle and foundation in everything, then by doing so, your motives and your perspectives will all be set right, and you will then be a person who receives God’s approval in His presence. God likes people who are absolute toward Him; He likes people who can be loyal solely to Him. Those whom God loathes are the ones who are half-hearted toward Him and who rebel against Him. He loathes those who believe in Him and always want to enjoy Him while yet being unable to completely expend themselves for His sake. He loathes those who say they love Him but who rebel against Him in their hearts; He loathes those who use eloquent, flowery words to engage in deception. Those who are not genuinely dedicated to God or who have not truly submitted to Him are heinously rebellious and overly arrogant by nature. In particular, those who cannot be genuinely submissive before the normal, practical God are even more arrogant, and they especially are the dutiful offspring of the archangel. People who truly expend themselves for God dedicate their entire being to Him and put themselves before Him—they can submit to all of His words and work, practice His words and accept them as the foundation of their existence, and seek sincerely within His words to find out which parts to practice. Such are people who truly live before God. If you practice in this way, it will be beneficial for your life. Through eating and drinking His words, you can gain knowledge of your own corrupt dispositions, as well as satisfy your life needs and make up for your deficiencies, so that your life disposition will be transformed. This will satisfy God’s intentions. If you act in accordance with God’s requirements, and if you do not satisfy the flesh but instead satisfy His intentions, then in this you will have entered the reality of His words. Entering the reality of God’s words means you can perform your duty and meet the needs of God’s work. Only these sorts of practical actions can be called entering the reality of His words. If you are able to enter this reality, then you will possess the truth. This is the beginning of entering reality; you must first undertake this training, and only then will you be able to enter even deeper realities.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Those Who Truly Love God Are Those Who Can Submit Absolutely to His Practicality

354. God is a practical God: All of His work is practical, all of the words He speaks are practical, and all of the truths He expresses are practical. Everything that is not His words is vacuous, non-existent, and cannot hold up. Today, the Holy Spirit is to guide people into the words of God. If people are to pursue entry into reality, then they must seek reality, and know reality, after which they must experience reality, and live out reality. The more that people know reality, the more they are able to discern whether the words of others are real; the more people know reality, the fewer notions they have; the more people experience reality, the more they know the deeds of the practical God, and the easier it is for them to break free from their satanic corrupt dispositions; the more reality people have, the more they know God, and thereby the more they detest the flesh and love the truth; and the more reality people have, the closer they come to the standards required by God. People who are gained by God are those who are possessed of reality, who know reality, and who have come to know God’s practical deeds through experiencing reality. The more you cooperate with God in a practical way and discipline your body, the more you will acquire the work of the Holy Spirit, the more you will gain reality, and the more you will be enlightened by God, and thus the greater your knowledge of God’s practical deeds will become. If you are able to live in the present light of the Holy Spirit, then the present path to practice will become clearer to you, and you will be more able to separate yourself from the religious notions and old practices of the past. Today actuality is the focus: The more reality people have, the clearer their knowledge of the truth, and the greater their understanding of God’s intentions. Reality can overcome all words and doctrines, it can overcome all theoretical knowledge, and the more people focus on reality, the more they are able to truly love God and yearn for His words. If you always focus on reality, then your philosophy for worldly dealings, religious notions, and natural character will naturally vanish following the work of God. Those who do not pursue reality, and have no knowledge of reality, are likely to pursue that which is supernatural, and they will be easily tricked. The Holy Spirit has no means of working in such people, and so they feel vacant, and that their lives have no meaning.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. How to Know Reality

355. Those who love God are those who love the truth, and the more those who love the truth put it into practice, the more of it they have; the more they put it into practice, the more of God’s love they have; and the more they put it into practice, the more blessed they are by God. If you always practice in this way, you will gradually be able to see God’s love upon you, just as Peter came to know God: Peter said that God not only has the wisdom to create the heavens and earth and all things, but, moreover, that He also has the wisdom to do practical work on people. Peter said that He is not only worthy of people’s love because of His creation of the heavens and earth and all things, but, moreover, because of His ability to create man, to save man, to make man perfect, and to bequeath His love to man. So, too, did Peter say that there is much in Him that is worthy of man’s love. Peter said to Jesus, “Is creating the heavens and earth and all things the only reason You deserve people’s love? There is more in You that is lovable. You act and move in real life, Your Spirit touches me inside, You discipline me, You reproach me—these things are even more worthy of love.” If you wish to see and experience God’s love, then you must grope about and seek in real life and must be willing to let go of your own flesh. You must make this resolution. You must be someone with resolve who is able to satisfy God in all things, without being lazy or coveting the enjoyments of the flesh, not living for the flesh but living for God. Perhaps you do not satisfy God this time because you do not understand God’s intentions; the next time, even if you have to put in some effort, you must satisfy Him and must not satisfy the flesh. When you experience in this way, you will have come to know God. You will see that God can create the heavens and earth and all things, that He has become flesh so that people can see Him in a real and tangible way, and that He engages with them in a real and tangible way; you will see that He is able to walk among man, and that His Spirit can make people perfect in real life; you will see that all of this allows people to see His loveliness and experience His discipline, His chastening, and His blessings. If you always experience in this way, in real life you will be inseparable from God, and if one day your relationship with God ceases to be normal, you will be able to suffer reproach and to feel remorse. When you have a normal relationship with God, you will never wish to leave God, and if one day God says He will forsake you, you will be afraid, and will say that you would rather die than be forsaken by God. As soon as you sense this, you will feel that you are incapable of leaving God, and in this way, you will have a foundation, and will truly enjoy God’s love.

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

356. In their faith in God, people’s greatest fault is that they believe in word only, and God is utterly absent from their everyday lives. All people, indeed, believe in the existence of God, yet God is not a part of their everyday lives. People’s mouths speak many prayers to God, but God has little place in their hearts, and so God tries them again and again. It is because people are impure that God has no alternative but to try them, so that they may feel ashamed and come to know themselves in the midst of these trials. If not, humanity would turn into the descendants of the archangel, and become increasingly corrupt. In the process of their faith in God, each person casts off many of their personal intentions and objectives under God’s ceaseless cleansing. If not, God would have no way of using anyone, and no way of doing in people the work that He ought. God first cleanses people, and through this process, they may come to know themselves and God may change them. Only then can God work His life into them, and only thus can their hearts be fully turned to God. And so, believing in God is not as simple as people say. As God sees it, if you only have knowledge but do not have His word as life, and if you are limited only to your own knowledge but cannot practice the truth or live out the word of God, then this is proof still that you do not have a God-loving heart, and it shows that your heart does not belong to God. One can come to know God by believing in Him: This is the final aim, and it is the goal of man’s pursuit. You must put effort into living out the words of God so that they may be realized in your practice. If you have only doctrinal knowledge, then your faith in God will come to naught. Only if you then also practice and live out His word can your faith be considered complete and in accord with God’s intentions. On this path, many people can speak of much knowledge, but at their time of death, their eyes brim with tears, and they hate themselves for having wasted a lifetime and lived to a ripe old age for naught. They merely understand doctrines, but cannot put the truth into practice or bear witness to God; they merely run this way and that, up to their ears in work, and only on the brink of death do they finally see that they don’t have true testimony, that they do not know God at all. And is this not too late? Why do you not seize the day and pursue the truth that you love? Why wait until tomorrow? If in life you do not suffer for the truth or seek to gain it, can it be that you wish to feel regret in your dying hour? If so, then why believe in God? In reality, there are many matters in which people can put the truth into practice and satisfy God, if they put in just the slightest exertion. It is only because people’s minds are always clouded that they cannot act for the sake of God, and constantly rush about for the sake of their flesh, with nothing to show for it in the end. For this reason, people constantly have troubles and difficulties. Are these not afflictions from Satan? Is this not the corruption of the flesh? You should not try to fool God by flapping your lips—you must actually practice. Do not deceive yourself—what would be the point of that? What can you gain by living for the sake of your flesh and struggling for fame and gain?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Ought to Live for the Truth Since You Believe in God

357. People who genuinely believe in God are those who are willing to put God’s word into practice and are willing to practice the truth. People who are truly able to stand firm in their testimony to God are also those who are willing to put His word into practice and can genuinely stand on the side of the truth. People who engage in crooked and unrighteous practices are all devoid of the truth, and they all bring shame to God. Those who cause disputes in the church are Satan’s servants, they are the embodiment of Satan. Such people are so malicious. Those who have no discernment yet are incapable of standing on the side of the truth are all people who harbor evil intentions and tarnish the truth. They are more archetypal representatives of Satan. They are beyond redemption, and shall naturally be eliminated. God’s house does not allow those who do not practice the truth to remain, nor does it allow to remain those who deliberately dismantle the church. However, now is not the time to do the work of expulsion; such people will simply be revealed and eliminated in the end. No more useless work is to be expended on these people; those who are Satans cannot stand on the side of the truth, whereas those who seek the truth can. People who do not practice the truth are unworthy of hearing the way of the truth and unworthy of bearing witness to the truth. The truth is simply not for their ears; rather, it is directed at those who practice it. Before every person’s outcome is revealed, those who disturb the church and disrupt the work will first be put to the side and left alone for now. Once the work is complete, these people will each be revealed, and then they will be eliminated. For the time being, while the truth is being provided, they will be ignored. When the whole truth is revealed to humanity, people will start to be eliminated; that will be the time when all people will be sorted according to their kind. The petty tricks of those without discernment will lead to their destruction at the hands of the evil, they will be lured away by them, never to return. And such treatment is what they deserve, because they do not love the truth, because they are incapable of standing on the side of the truth, and because they follow evil people, stand on the side of evil people, and collude with evil people to resist God. They know perfectly well that what those evil people reveal is evil, yet they embolden themselves and turn their backs on the truth to follow them. Are these people who do not practice the truth but who do destructive and abominable things not all committing evil? Although there are those among them who act as “kings” and others who follow them, is their nature of resisting God not the same? What excuse can they have to claim that God does not save them? What excuse can they have to claim that God is not righteous? Is it not their own evil that is destroying them? Is it not their own rebelliousness that is dragging them down into hell? People who practice the truth will, in the end, be saved and made perfect because of the truth. Those who do not practice the truth will, in the end, bring destruction upon themselves because of the truth. These are the outcomes that await those who practice the truth and those who do not.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. A Warning to Those Who Do Not Practice the Truth