I have carried out a vast amount of work on the earth, and I have walked among mankind for so many years, yet people rarely have knowledge of My image and My disposition, and few people can thoroughly explain the work that I do. There are so many things that people lack, always they lack understanding of what I do, and always their hearts are on guard as if they deeply fear I will put them in another situation and then pay no more mind to them. Thus, people’s attitudes toward Me are always lukewarm together with a strong dose of caution. This is because people have come to the present without understanding the work that I do, and in particular, they are baffled by the words that I speak to them. They hold My words in their hands, not knowing if they should commit themselves to unswerving belief in them or if they should opt for indecision and forget them. They do not know whether they should put them into practice, or wait and see, whether they should cast aside everything and bravely follow, or continue to hold out friendship to the world as before. People’s internal worlds are so complicated, and they are so cunning. Because people cannot clearly or fully see My words, many of them have a hard time practicing them and have difficulty laying their hearts before Me. I deeply understand your difficulties. Many weaknesses are unavoidable when living in the flesh, and many objective factors create difficulties for you. You feed your family, spend your days working hard, and the months and years pass in hardship. There are many difficulties in living in the flesh—I do not deny this, and of course My requirements of you are made in accordance with your difficulties. The requirements in the work I do are all based on your actual stature. Perhaps in the past, the requirements people made of you in their work were mixed with elements of excessiveness, but you should know that I have never had excessive requirements of you in what I say and do. All requirements are based on people’s nature, flesh, and what they need. You should know, and I can very clearly tell you, that I do not oppose certain reasonable ways of thinking that people have, and I do not oppose mankind’s original nature. It is only because people do not understand what the standards I have set them actually are, nor do they understand the original meaning of My words, that people have been dubious of My words until now, and even less than half of people believe My words. The remainder are nonbelievers, and even more are those who like to hear Me “tell stories.” Moreover, there are many who enjoy the spectacle. I caution you: Many of My words have already been opened to those who believe in Me, and those who enjoy the beautiful view of the kingdom but are locked outside of its gate have already been eliminated by Me. Are you not just tares, detested and rejected by Me? How could you watch Me leave and then joyfully welcome My return? I tell you, after the people of Nineveh heard Jehovah’s angry words, they immediately repented in sackcloth and ashes. It was because they believed His words that they were full of fear and dread and thus repented in sackcloth and ashes. As for the people of today, although you also believe My words and even more than that, believe that Jehovah has once again come among you today, your attitude is nothing but irreverent, as if you were just observing the Jesus who was born in Judea thousands of years ago and has now descended into your midst. I deeply understand the deceitfulness that exists within your hearts; most of you follow Me out of curiosity and have come to seek Me out of emptiness. When your third wish is shattered—your wish for a peaceful and happy life—then your curiosity also dissipates. The deceitfulness that exists within each of your hearts is exposed through your words and deeds. To speak frankly, you are just curious about Me, but not afraid of Me; you do not mind your tongues, and even less do you exercise restraint in your behavior. Then what kind of faith do you have, really? Is it genuine? You just use My words to dispel your worries and alleviate your boredom, to fill up the remaining empty spaces in your lives. Who among you has put My words into practice? Who has genuine faith? You keep shouting that God is a God who sees deep into people’s hearts, but how is the God that you shout about in your hearts compatible with Me? Since you are shouting like this, then why do you act that way? Could it be that this is the love you want to repay Me with? There is no small amount of dedication on your lips, but where are your sacrifices, and your good deeds? If it weren’t for your words reaching My ears, how could I hate you so much? If you truly believed in Me, how could you fall into such a state of distress? You have depressed looks on your faces as if you were in Hades standing trial. You have not even a shred of vitality, and you feebly talk about your inner voice; you are even full of complaints and curses. You long ago lost faith in what I do and even your original faith has disappeared, so how can you possibly follow until the end? Since this is so, then how can you be saved?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Words for the Young and the Old