People must adhere to the many duties that they should perform. This is what people should adhere to, and what they must carry out. Let the Holy Spirit do what must be done by the Holy Spirit; man can play no part in it. Man should adhere to what ought to be done by man, which bears no relation to the Holy Spirit. It is nothing but that which ought to be done by man, and should be adhered to as commandment, just like adherence to the law of the Old Testament. Although now is not the Age of Law, there are still many words of a kind with the Age of Law that should be adhered to, and they are not carried out merely by relying on being touched by the Holy Spirit, but are what should be adhered to by man. For example: You shall not pass judgment on the work of the practical God. You shall not oppose the man who is testified to by God. Before God, you shall keep your place and shall not be dissolute. You should be moderate in speech, and your words and actions must follow the arrangements of the man testified to by God. You should revere the testimony of God. You shall not ignore the work of God and the words from His mouth. You shall not imitate the tone and aims of God’s utterances. Externally, you shall not do anything that manifestly opposes the man who is testified to by God. This, and more, is what each person should adhere to. In each age, God specifies many rules that are akin to the laws and are to be adhered to by man. Through this, He constrains man’s disposition, and detects his sincerity. Take the words “Honor your father and your mother” of the Old Testament age, for example. These words do not apply today; at the time, they merely constrained some of man’s external disposition, they were used to demonstrate the sincerity of man’s belief in God, and were a mark of those who believed in God. Although now is the Age of Kingdom, there are still many rules that man must adhere to. The rules of the past don’t apply; today, there are many, more fitting practices for man to carry out, and which are necessary. They do not involve the work of the Holy Spirit and must be done by man.

In the Age of Grace, many of the practices of the Age of Law were discarded because these laws were not particularly effective for the work at that time. After they were discarded, many practices were set out that were suitable for the age, and which have become the many rules of today. When the God of today came, these rules were dispensed with, and no longer needed to be adhered to, and there were set out many practices suitable for the work of today. Today, these practices are not rules, but in order to achieve an effect; they are suitable for today—and tomorrow, perhaps, they will become rules. In sum, you should adhere to that which is fruitful for the work of today. Pay no heed to tomorrow: What is done today is for the sake of today. Maybe tomorrow there will be better practices which you will be required to carry out—but do not pay too much attention to that, adhere to that which should be adhered to today so as to avoid opposing God. Today, nothing is more crucial for man to adhere to than the following: You must not deceive or conceal anything from the God that stands before your eyes. You shall not utter filthiness or foolish talk in front of the God before you. You shall not deceive the God before your eyes by good words and fair speeches in order to gain His trust. You shall not act irreverently before God. You shall obey all that is spoken from the mouth of God, and shall not resist, oppose, or dispute His words. You shall not interpret, as you see fit, the words spoken from the mouth of God. You should guard your tongue to avoid it causing you to fall prey to the deceitful schemes of the wicked. You should guard your footsteps to avoid transgressing the boundaries set out for you by God. Doing so will cause you to speak conceited and pompous words from the perspective of God, and thus become loathed by God. You shall not carelessly repeat the words spoken from the mouth of God, lest others mock you and the devils make a fool of you. You shall obey all of the work of the God of today. Even if you do not understand it, you shall not pass judgment on it; all you can do is seek and fellowship. No person shall transgress God’s original place. You can do nothing more than serve the God of today from the position of man. You cannot teach the God of today from the position of man—to do so is misguided. No one may stand in the place of the man testified to by God; in your words, actions, and inmost thoughts, you stand in the position of man. This is to be abided by, it is the responsibility of man, it is alterable by no one, and doing so would violate the administrative decrees. It should be remembered by all.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Commandments of the New Age