Because there are always new developments in God’s work, thus there is new work, and thus there is also work that is obsolete and old. This old and new work is not contradictory, but complementary; each step follows on from the last. Because there is new work, the old things must, of course, be eliminated. For example, some of the long-established practices and habitual sayings of man have, coupled with man’s many years of experience and teachings, formed all manner of conceptions in the mind of man. Yet more propitious to the formation of such conceptions by man is that God has yet to fully reveal His true face and inherent disposition to man, combined with the spread, over many years, of traditional theories from ancient times. It is fair to say that, during the course of man’s belief in God, the influence of various conceptions has led to the continual formation and evolution of a knowledge in man in which he has all kinds of conceptions about God—with the result that many religious people who serve God have become His enemies. And so, the stronger people’s religious conceptions, the more they oppose God, and the more they are the enemies of God. The work of God is always new and never old, and it never forms doctrine and is, instead, continually changing and renewing to a greater or lesser extent. This work is the expression of the inherent disposition of God Himself. It is also the inherent principle of God’s work, and one of the means by which God accomplishes His management. If God did not work in this way, man would not change or be able to know God, and Satan would not be defeated. Thus, in His work there continually occur changes that appear erratic, but which are actually periodic. The way in which man believes in God, however, is quite different: He clings to old, familiar doctrines and systems, and the older they are the more palatable they are to him. How could the foolish mind of man, a mind that is as intransigent as stone, accept so much unfathomable new work and words of God? Man abhors the God who is always new and never old; he only likes the antiquated old God who is white-haired and immobile. Thus, because God and man each have their own likes, man has become the enemy of God. Many of these contradictions still exist even today, at a time when God has been doing new work for almost six thousand years. They are, then, beyond remedy. Maybe it is because of the stubbornness of man, or the inviolability of God’s administration by any man—but those clergymen and women still cling to moldy old books and papers, while God carries on with His uncompleted work of management as if He had no one by His side. Though these contradictions make enemies of God and man, and are, even, irreconcilable, God pays them no heed, as if they were there and yet not there. Man, however, still sticks by his beliefs and conceptions, and never lets go of them. Yet one thing is self-evident: Even though man does not deviate from his stance, God’s feet are always moving and He is always changing His stance according to the environment, and in the end, it is man who will be defeated without a fight. God, meanwhile, is the greatest enemy of all of His foes who have been defeated, and is also the champion of those among mankind who have been defeated and those who have yet to be defeated. Who can compete with God and be victorious? Man’s conceptions seem to come from God because many of them were born in the wake of God’s work. Yet God does not forgive man because of this, nor, moreover, does He pour praise on man for producing batch after batch of products “for God” that are outside the work of God. Instead, He is extremely disgusted by man’s conceptions and old, pious beliefs, and even ignores the date on which these conceptions first emerged. He does not accept at all that these conceptions are caused by His work, for the conceptions of man are spread by man; their source is the thoughts and mind of man, and is not God, but Satan. God’s intention has always been for His work to be new and alive, not old and dead, and that which He makes man hold firm to is divided into ages and periods, not everlasting and immutable. That is because He is a God who causes man to live and be new, rather than a devil who causes man to die and be old. Do you still not understand this? You have conceptions about God and are incapable of letting go of them because you are closed-minded. It is not because there is too little sense to God’s work, or because the work of God is inhumane—nor, moreover, is it because God is always “negligent in His duties.” That you cannot let go of your conceptions is because you are too lacking in obedience, and because you have not the slightest likeness of a creature of God, and not because God is making things difficult for you. All of this has been caused by you, and bears no relation to God; all suffering and misfortune is caused by man. God’s intentions are always good: He does not wish to cause you to produce conceptions, but wishes for you to change and be renewed as the ages pass. Yet you can’t tell chalk from cheese, and are always either studying or analyzing. It is not that God is making things difficult for you, but that you have no reverence for God, and your disobedience is too great. A tiny creature dares to take some trivial part of that which was previously given by God, and turns it around in order to attack God—is this not the disobedience of man? Man, it is fair to say, is utterly unqualified to express his views before God, much less is he qualified to come up with whatever worthless, stinking, rotten maxims he feels like—to say nothing of those moldy conceptions. Are they not even more worthless?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Only Those Who Know the Work of God Today May Serve God