Watch Over This House

Christian Skit | "Watch Over This House" | Why Christians Are Treated Like This (English Dubbed) In China, Christians are persecuted by the CCP to the point that it's hard for them to go home, so they often live a wandering existence. In this skit, a Christian couple, fed up by being monitored in their village for their belief in God, decides to move to the city and rent an apartment, but it's not long before the CCP police officer, neighborhood committee member, security guard, and a neighborhood lout start visiting one after another to "help the old couple watch their apartment." Again fed up with the surveillance, the old couple decides to pack their bags and move again …

From this video you can see how Christians depending on God and pray to God to handle with the CCP and have a true witness that God is my strength.

What is the essential difference between being saved and salvation? 

Bible Verses for Reference:

“Not every one that said to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Mat 7:21).

“You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy” (Lev 11:45).

Relevant Words of God:

Though Jesus did much work among man, He only completed the redemption of all mankind and became man’s sin offering, and did not rid man of all his corrupt disposition. Fully saving man from the influence of Satan not only required Jesus to take on the sins of man as the sin offering, but also required God to do greater work to completely rid man of his disposition, which has been corrupted by Satan. And so, after man was forgiven his sins, God has returned to flesh to lead man into the new age, and begun the work of chastisement and judgment, and this work has brought man into a higher realm. All those who submit under His dominion shall enjoy higher truth and receive greater blessings. They shall truly live in the light, and shall gain the truth, the way, and the life.

from Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh

The first incarnation was to redeem man from sin, to redeem him by means of the fleshly body of Jesus, that is, He saved man from the cross, but the corrupt satanic disposition still remained within man. The second incarnation is no longer to serve as a sin offering but rather to save fully those who were redeemed from sin. This is done so that those who have been forgiven may be delivered from their sins and made fully clean, and by attaining a changed disposition, break free of Satan’s influence of darkness and return before the throne of God. Only in this way can man be fully sanctified.

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Some people always think: “Isn’t believing in God just attending meetings, singing songs, listening to the word of God, praying, doing some duties? Isn’t that what it’s like?” No matter how long you have been believers in God, you still haven’t understood thoroughly the significance of belief in God. In fact, the significance of belief in God is incredibly deep, and people have not thought thoroughly about it. In the end, the things within people that are of Satan, and the things of their nature must change, and must become compatible with the requirements of the truth; only this is truly achieving salvation. If you are like what you were in the religion—just shouting some words of doctrine or shouting some slogans, and then doing some actions and good behaviors, and not committing certain sins, not committing the obvious sins—this still does not mean that you have entered onto the right track of believing in God. Just because you can abide by the rules, does that mean you are walking the correct path? Does this mean you have chosen correctly? If the things within your nature have not changed and in the end you are still resisting God and offending God, then this is the largest of problems. If you believe in God but do not resolve this problem, then can you be considered as having been saved? What does it mean, Me saying this? It is to make you all understand in your hearts that a belief in God cannot be separated from God’s words, from God, or from the truth. You must choose your path well, put effort into the truth and put effort into God’s words. Do not just have some half-baked knowledge and then consider yourself done, or just understand them more or less. If you go about things in a slapdash way, you will only hurt yourself.

from “Those Who Have Lost the Work of the Holy Spirit Are Most at Risk” in Records of Christ’s Talks

What on earth does being saved mean? … To be saved, in common words, is to continue to live on, to survive, to be brought back to life. So are you dead before that? You are living, you can speak, you can breathe, so are you dead? (The spirit is dead.) How can you say that? Why say this? Why if the spirit is dead, you are dead? What do you base this on?

Before people are saved, where are they? (Under the domain of Satan.) They are under the dark influence of Satan. What do people rely on to live? (The philosophies of Satan and the poisons of Satan.) Yes, people rely on the satanic nature, the corrupt nature to live. So when someone lives in reliance on the corrupt satanic nature, this person’s whole being—their flesh, and all other aspects such as their soul and their thought—are they alive or dead? God sees them as being dead. Now there is a term to generalize someone who is “dead.” What is it? (The walking dead.) Yes, the walking dead. From the outside, you appear to breathe and blink your eyes, and you appear to think, but what are all your thoughts of? All you think about are evil things, you think about evil things all day long—things of defying God, rebelling against God, things that God detests, that incur God’s punishment—all your thoughts are of these things. God sees all these things as pertaining to demons, to devils and to Satan. Not only do they pertain to the flesh, they pertain entirely to Satan. Since they pertain entirely to Satan, what does God see people as? Humans? (No.) What then? (Devils.) (Animals.) Yes, devils, animals, Satan; the living Satan! Within them, people live in reliance on the things and the essence of the living Satan and in God’s eyes they are wearing the living Satan on their flesh, which is actually the living Satan wearing man’s flesh. In God’s eyes, this kind of person is determined as being a walking dead. What are defined as “walking dead”? (Dead people.) Yes, dead people. God wants to do His work of salvation now, meaning that He will take these people—these people who are dead, these people who are walking dead, who rely on the corrupt satanic disposition, on the corrupt satanic essence to live, these so-called dead people—He will take these people and turn them into the living. This is the significance of being saved. What do you believe in God for? (To be saved.) Yes, it is to be saved. What does being saved mean? (The dead turning into the living.) The dead turning into the living. What then is the implication of this? That you become alive from being dead means that your breath is revived and you live. You open your eyes and see God, and can recognize Him. You see God and you’re able to bow down to worship. You no longer curse God, defy God, attack God or rebel against God. What is this kind of person in God’s eyes? (They are the living.) Yes, only they are genuinely the living. Only this kind of person is living in God’s eyes. So if someone just says they acknowledge God, are they then one of the living? (No, they aren’t.) So what kind of people are the living? What kind of reality do the living people have? Tell Me. Discuss this question. (They are people who undergo a change in their life disposition. Their ideological views and their ways of looking at things are transformed to be compatible with God’s word. Only then do they come to life.) (They are people like Job, who can revere God. Their every thought is on how to satisfy God. This kind of person is the living.) (Everything they do is done in accordance with God’s will, and they can fear God and eschew evil.) (Those who are not bound by dark influences, and whose views on things are transformed are those who have come to life.) You have all spoken of one aspect of their expression. What exactly are the living? Those who are saved in the end become the living. The living can speak, so what is it that they say? They have their thinking, thoughts and ideas, but what things do they think about? They can do things, perform their duties, but what is it they do? What is the nature of these things, everything they do, and everything they say? If you are one of the living, then this implies that you are no longer one of the dead. What does it mean that you are no longer one of the dead? It means that everything you express, everything you think and everything you do is done with the nature of fearing God and eschewing evil. It’s this kind of nature, right? There is another aspect—to put it more appropriately—which is that your every deed and every thought are not condemned by God or detested and rejected by God, but instead they are approved and commended by God. This is both what the living do as well as what they should do.

from “Only Being Truly Obedient Is a Real Belief” in Records of Christ’s Talks

Those who live under the influence of darkness are those who live amid death, they are those who are possessed by Satan. Without being saved by God, and judged and chastised by God, people are unable to escape the influence of death, they cannot become the living. These dead can’t bear testimony to God, nor can they be used by God, much less enter the kingdom. God wants the testimony of the living, not the dead, and He asks that the living work for Him, not the dead. “The dead” are those who oppose and rebel against God, they are those who are numb in spirit and do not understand God’s words, they are those who do not put the truth into practice and have not the slightest loyalty to God, and they are those who live under the domain of Satan and are exploited by Satan. The dead show themselves by standing in opposition to the truth, by rebelling against God, and by being lowly, contemptible, malicious, brutish, deceitful, and insidious. Even though such people eat and drink the words of God, they are unable to live out the words of God; they live, but they are the walking dead, they are breathing corpses. The dead are totally incapable of satisfying God, much less can they utterly obey Him. They can only deceive Him, blaspheme against Him, and betray Him, and all that they live out reveals the nature of Satan. If people wish to become living beings, and to bear testimony to God, and to be approved of by God, they must accept God’s salvation, they must gladly submit to His judgment and chastisement, and must gladly accept the pruning and dealing of God. Only then will they be able to put all of the truths required by God into practice, and only then will they gain God’s salvation, and truly become living beings. The living are saved by God, they have been judged and chastised by God, they are willing to devote themselves and are happy to lay down their lives to God, and they would gladly dedicate their whole lives to God. Only when the living bear testimony to God can Satan be shamed, only the living can spread the gospel work of God, only the living are after God’s heart, and only the living are real people. Originally the man made by God was alive, but because of Satan’s corruption man lives amid death, and lives under the influence of Satan, and so these people have become the dead who are without a spirit, they have become enemies who oppose God, they have become the tools of Satan, and they have become the captives of Satan. All the living people created by God have become dead, and so God has lost His testimony, and He has lost mankind, which He created and is the only thing that has His breath. If God is to take back His testimony, and take back those who were made by His own hand but who have been taken captive by Satan, then He must resurrect them so that they become living beings, and He must reclaim them so that they live in His light. The dead are those who have no spirit, those who are numb in the extreme, and who oppose God. Moreover, they are those who do not know God. These people have not the slightest intention of obeying God, they only rebel against Him and oppose Him, and have not the slightest loyalty. The living are those whose spirits have been reborn, who know to obey God, and who are loyal to God. They are possessed of the truth, and of testimony, and only these people are pleasing to God in His house.

from “Have You Come Alive?” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Everything that God does is necessary, and possessed of extraordinary significance, for all that He does in man concerns His management and the salvation of mankind. … In other words, regardless of what God does or the means by which He does it, regardless of the cost, or His objective, the purpose of His actions does not change. His purpose is to work into man God’s words, God’s requirements, and God’s will for man; in other words, it is to work into man all that God believes to be positive in accordance with His steps, enabling man to understand God’s heart and comprehend God’s substance, and allowing him to obey God’s sovereignty and arrangements, and thus allowing man to attain the fear of God and shunning of evil—all of which is one aspect of God’s purpose in all He does. The other aspect is that, because Satan is the foil and serving object in God’s work, man is often given to Satan; this is the means God uses to allow people to see the wickedness, ugliness, and contemptibility of Satan amid Satan’s temptations and attacks, thus causing people to hate Satan and be able to know and recognize that which is negative. This process allows them to gradually free themselves from Satan’s control, and from Satan’s accusations, interference, and attacks—until, thanks to God’s words, their knowledge and obedience of God, and their faith in God and fear of Him, they triumph over the attacks of Satan, and triumph over the accusations of Satan; only then will they have been completely delivered from the domain of Satan. People’s deliverance means that Satan has been defeated, it means that they are no longer the food in Satan’s mouth—that instead of swallowing them, Satan has relinquished them. This is because such people are upright, because they have faith, obedience, and fear toward God, and because they completely break with Satan. They bring shame upon Satan, they make a coward of Satan, and they utterly defeat Satan. Their conviction in following God, and obedience to and fear of God defeat Satan, and make Satan completely give them up. Only people such as this have truly been gained by God, and it is this which is God’s ultimate objective in saving man. If they wish to be saved, and wish to be completely gained by God, then all those who follow God must face temptations and attacks both great and small from Satan. Those who emerge from these temptations and attacks and are able to fully defeat Satan are those who have been saved by God. Which is to say, those who have been saved unto God are those who have undergone God’s trials, and who have been tempted and attacked by Satan an untold number of times. Those who have been saved unto God understand God’s will and requirements, and are able to acquiesce to God’s sovereignty and arrangements, and they do not forsake the way of fearing God and shunning evil amid Satan’s temptations. Those who are saved unto God possess honesty, they are kindhearted, they differentiate between love and hate, they have a sense of justice and are rational, and they are able to care for God and treasure all that is of God. Such people are not bound, spied upon, accused, or abused by Satan, they are completely free, they have been completely liberated and released. Job was just such a man of freedom, and this is precisely the significance of why God had handed him over to Satan.

from “God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh

Ultimately, what testimony will you be asked to give? You live in a land of filth but are able to become holy, and no longer be filthy and impure, you live under the domain of Satan but divest yourself of Satan’s influence, and are not possessed or harassed by Satan, and you live in the hands of the Almighty. This is the testimony, and the proof of victory in the battle with Satan. You are able to forsake Satan, what you live out does not reveal Satan, but is that which God required that man attain when He created man: normal humanity, normal rationality, normal insight, normal resolve to love God, and loyalty to God. Such is the testimony borne by a creature of God. You say, “We live in a land of filth, but because of God’s protection, because of His leadership, and because He has conquered us, we have rid ourselves of the influence of Satan. That we can obey today is also the effect of being conquered by God, and it is not because we are good, or because we naturally loved God. It is because God chose us, and predestined us, that we have been conquered today, are able to bear testimony to Him, and can serve Him; so, too, is it because He chose us, and protected us, that we have been saved and delivered from the domain of Satan, and can leave behind the filth and be purified in the nation of the great red dragon.”

from “The Inside Truth of the Conquering Work (2)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

What kind of people are those who have been born in the last days? They are those who have been through the corruption of Satan for several thousand years, and who have been corrupted to a depth whereby they no longer look human. But finally, after having gone through the judgment, chastisement and disclosure of the word of God, and having been conquered, they have attained the truth from within God’s words and have been sincerely convinced by God; they have reached an understanding of God, and they can obey God absolutely and satisfy His will. In the end, God’s management plan will obtain a group of people like this. Those of mankind that will be obtained through the entire management plan are a group who can understand God’s will, who attain the truth from God, and who possess the life and the human likeness which God requires. … The group of people who will be gotten in the end are those who will remain in the end, and that group is also those whom God requires, whom He loves and whom He is pleased with.

from “Only by Knowing God’s Almightiness Can You Have a True Belief” in Records of Christ’s Talks

Latest Readings of the Parables Jesus Spoke in Matthew 13

Yaqin has not believed in the Lord for very long. She likes reading the Bible very much. One day, she turned to Matthew 13:3-8 and read, “And he spoke many things to them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up: Some fell on stony places, where they had not much earth: and immediately they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them: But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundred times, some sixty times, some thirty times.” She also saw many parables in the following several verses (See Matthew 13:24-33), such as the parable of the tares, the parable of the mustard seed, the parable of the leaven, and so on. After reading these parables, she thought: “Why did the Lord Jesus always speak parables when He preached to the disciples? What was His will behind the parable of the sower?”

God Has Appeared in the East of the World With Glory

Christian Worship Song "God Has Appeared in the East of the World With Glory" I God is doing work throughout the universe. Thunderous noises in the East do not relent, shaking all denominations and all sects. It's God's voice that brought all to the present. It's His voice that will have all conquered. They fall in this stream, and submit to Him. God has long ago reclaimed glory from the earth, and from the East He has reissued it. Who doesn't long to see the glory of God? Who doesn't await His return with eagerness? Who doesn't thirst for Him to reappear? Who doesn't miss His loveliness? Who would not come toward the light? Who wouldn't see the wealth of Canaan? Who doesn't long for the Redeemer's return? Who doesn't admire the One with omnipotence? II God's voice must spread through all the land. To His chosen people, He has more words to speak. Like a mighty thunder shaking mountains and rivers, He speaks to all the universe and all mankind. Hence God's words become man's treasure. His words are dearly loved by all. Lightning flashes straight from East to West. God's words make people loathe to give them up. God's words are unfathomable yet bring joy. All men rejoice and celebrate God coming, just like a newborn baby. God's voice attracts people before Him. God formally enters among men henceforth. All men come to worship Him because of this. Due to the glory and the words that God gives forth, all come before God and see lightning from the East. III God has come down on the “Mount of Olives” in the East. He's long been on this earth, no more “Son of Jews.” He's Lightning of the East, for God has resurrected. He left men and now reappears, full of His glory. God is He who was worshiped before the ages, the “baby” forsaken by the Israelites from that phase. He's the all-glorious Almighty God of the present age! All He wants to achieve is nothing but this: People all come before the throne of God, to see His face and deeds, to hear His voice. It's the end and the climax of His plan, and the purpose of the management of God. So all nations worship and acknowledge Him. All people trust and are subject unto Him! from “The Seven Thunders Peal—Prophesying That the Kingdom Gospel Shall Spread Throughout the Universe” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Do you know the Lord Jesus's second coming?

My View Toward Priests Changed

By Changxin, United States

I was born in a Catholic family. Influenced by my family from childhood, I had such a viewpoint that priests represent the Lord, and that believing in priests is believing in the Lord. At that time, priests had a very high status in our hearts. I remembered once an old priest came to my home; all my family knelt down to welcome him, expecting that his blessing would come to my house.

In 1986, my entire family immigrated to America. Since then, rain or shine, I would go to church for Mass every Sunday, and also make the pilgrimage and follow ceremonies devoutly. In 2012, I moved to Chinatown and continued to attend Mass in a Catholic church there. There was a Priest Ruan in the church who talked frequently and eloquently, and the believers all admired him. He often took us to visit sick people, and taught us to learn from other denominations’ strengths. For example, Christians were more active in preaching the gospel than us, and he said it was worthwhile to learn. Moreover, he told the church members to print some leaflets and set up a stall at the church gate to preach gospel, and he himself also led us to spread the gospel from house to house; all of these made me even more assured that my priest was a good servant of the Lord and that it was correct for me to follow him in believing in the Lord. In our church, all believers, old or young, liked associating with him, and I was not an exception. No matter what happened to the priest, I would try my utmost to help him. When he was sick, I would recommend a doctor to him; at New Year or on festival days, I would invite him home to spend holidays with us. In my heart, I treated him as one of the family.

And so, as the years passed and the days went by, I thought my belief in the Lord must be able to satisfy His will, but gradually I found that I couldn’t practice the Lord’s words in my life, that I was one person in the church and another at home, and that my behavior was the same as that of non-believers. What’s more, I didn’t feel the work of the Holy Spirit. Even if I committed sins, there was no discipline; living in this kind of state, I felt empty inside. Our church seemed thriving from the outside, but the fact was that the believers didn’t focus on practicing the Lord’s words, nor did they make any progress in life; they were all weak in faith, whose views of pursuit and life goals were the same as those of non-believers. In addition, our priest always preached the same old platitudes and paid attention to eating, drinking, and enjoyments in life; he even led us to celebrate the Spring Festival, and wore Tang suit and offered sacrifices to his ancestors in the church. Seeing him doing that, I felt it inappropriate: The church is a place for us to worship God; how could he offer sacrifices to his ancestors here? But then I thought: Since the priest is a good servant of the Lord, he shouldn’t be wrong.

In the blink of an eye it was July of 2015. One day, a church member invited me to listen to sermons, saying that there was a Brother Li, a classmate of her cousin’s, preaching pretty well. Then I thought: Since there are good sermons, I should go and listen. At her cousin’s home, Brother Li talked about the present situation of the world combining with many prophecies in the Bible concerning the last days, such as the split of the Mount of Olives and the four blood moons. Besides, he also fellowshiped: “The reason why the temple became a den of thieves in the later stages of the Age of Law was because the Lord Jesus carried out the work in the Age of Grace; nowadays the desolation in the churches is also because the returned Lord Jesus—Almighty God—has started the work of the Age of Kingdom, and He reclaimed all the work of the Spirit throughout the universe and focused it upon a group of people who accepted God’s newest work. …” Hearing Brother Li’s fellowship, I couldn’t agree more, for what he said was in accordance with the Bible and the present situation of the churches. Later through reading the words expressed by Almighty God, I knew more about His work of judgment in the last days, and realized that this stage of God’s work was too important for us, for without God’s work of judgment in the last days, I would live in sin forever and never be cleansed. I had confirmed in my heart that Almighty God is exactly the returned Lord Jesus.

Soon I told my mother the good news of the Lord’s return. Through investigation, she also accepted God’s work of the last days. Later, I was eager to tell the news to my priest, and thought: If he accepts God’s new work, and shares it with the church members, then all of them will follow the footsteps of God’s new work. Thinking of this, I felt very excited and told my thought to the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God; they also approved of it. But a sister warned me: “If we want to preach the gospel to the priest, we must first know if he is a person who seeks and accepts the truth, for God’s words revealed that most leaders in churches come from seminaries and often use biblical knowledge to resist God’s work of the last days; some of them even spread rumors about The Church of Almighty God to block believers from investigating and accepting the work of the returned Lord. These religious leaders look humble outwardly, yet inside they hate the truth. Of course, if your priest is a person who truly believes in God, then God will not abandon him, and He will arrange an appropriate time for him to come before God.” At first, I couldn’t accept these words anyhow, but thought: Although most religious leaders resist God, my priest is definitely not one of them, for he has consecrated his whole life to the Lord and is a good servant; how could he resist God? As I just accepted the Lord’s return and felt that I needed to equip myself with more truths, I put this matter aside.

At the end of 2016, I went back to my original church by chance. To my surprise, after the Mass, the priest started to wantonly attack and convict The Church of Almighty God, and spread many negative words like “There is poison in the books of The Church of Almighty God,” “If we believe in Almighty God, our family will be broken up and decimated,” and so on. Hearing those words he made up, I felt indignant and grieved: I’ve been contacting with The Church of Almighty God for more than one year; there is no poison at all in their books and my family are still living in harmony. Besides, when I have meetings with the brothers and sisters of The Church of Almighty God, we fellowship God’s words and share the testimonies of experiencing God’s work. Though sometimes we reveal corruption, we are able to accept the judgment of Almighty God’s words and pursue the transformation in disposition, and I’ve benefited a lot from these brothers and sisters. How could the priest tell lies blatantly? The Ten Commandments clearly say: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor” (Exodus 20:16). The priest is one who serves God directly and preaches sermons to supply believers with life; however, facing the Lord’s return, he not only didn’t investigate or seek, but even spread rumors to the believers; isn’t he obstructing believers from entering the kingdom of heaven? The Lord Jesus said: “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in” (Matthew 23:13). The priest spread such rumors to delude the believers; isn’t this doing evil? But then I thought: Perhaps it is because he hasn’t read Almighty God’s words. If he has, he won’t resist God like this, for God’s words are so clear that those who truly believe in God are able to understand. At that moment, I still hoped that I could have the opportunity to preach the gospel to my priest one day, so that he could investigate and seek God’s work in the last days and then lead the believers to accept it.

What Is Faith in God? Has Your Faith Been Approved by God?

By Xianxin

In a chance encounter, when my husband and I were passing the door of a church, we heard a foreigner asking a young man, “Do you use your mouth or your heart to believe in the Lord Jesus?” Sticking his hands out before the foreigner and shrugging, that young man shook his head and said, “I don’t know.” Then, the young man left. Seeing this scene, I couldn’t help reflecting: There are many people who believe in the Lord Jesus, including me. However, are we using our mouth or our heart to believe in Him on earth? The Lord Jesus said, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). The Lord’s words clearly told us God’s requirement: Only by worshiping God in spirit and in truth can we be approved by God. Then, let us reflect on ourselves carefully: Are we people who worship God in spirit and in truth?

1. We need to reflect on whether we practice God’s words and follow God’s way or not.

God’s words say, “The greatest fault of man having faith in God is that his faith is in words only, and God exists not at all in his practical life. All men, indeed, believe in the existence of God, yet God is not a part of their everyday lives. Many prayers to God come from the mouth of man, but God has little place in his heart….”

Contemplating these words, I saw that God has revealed most believers’ actual situation of believing in God. Most of us just believe in God nominally but put God behind us in our practical life. For example, we have believed in God for many years and pray to Him every day. We often listen to sermons, read God’s words, and are also able to preach them to others and commune them with others. However, what are our living out in real life? God teaches us to be honest people. But we often lie and deceive for the sake of our own interests and we are even not able to speak honestly even if we want to. God teaches us to practice forgiveness and tolerance and love others as we love ourselves. But when our interests are infringed upon or what others do is not in accordance with our thoughts, we not only can’t be tolerant with them, but lose our temper with them and even bear a grudge against them. God told us, “You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). However, many of us wholeheartedly pursue worldly pleasures, money and material enjoyment but treat spreading the gospel and assisting our brothers and sisters as something we do in our spare time. Moreover, we say that we want to be loyal to God, satisfy and bear witness to God, but when we encounter disasters and calamities, we still complain to God. … We behave like this, and are we using our heart and our honesty to worship God?

The Lord Jesus also said, “If a man love me, he will keep my words. … He that loves me not keeps not my sayings” (John 14:23-24), “If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed” (John 8:31). From God’s words, we can understand His will. His will is that after listening to God’s preaching and reading His words, we can use an honest heart to follow and practice them and bring His words to our real life, and that even if our own interests are infringed upon, we can still make no complaints and practice the truth. Just like Job, in his daily life, he often offered burnt offerings, walked in God’s way, feared God and shunned evil. When trials came upon him: His property was taken away, his children died and he had sore boils all over his body, he didn’t complain about God but still followed His way and extolled His holy name. Finally, he was praised by God. This is truly worshiping God in spirit and in truth.

1. We need to reflect on whether our devotion to God has the hint of transaction or trade and is in order to love and satisfy God or not.

God’s words say, “People believe in God, love God, and satisfy God by touching the Spirit of God with their heart, thereby obtaining His satisfaction; when engaging with God’s words with their heart, they are therefore moved by the Spirit of God. … If people do not give their heart to God in their belief in Him, if their heart is not in Him and they do not treat His burden as their own, then everything they do is cheating God, and it is all the behavior of religious people—this cannot receive God’s praise.” This passage tells us that true faith in God is that we must give our heart to God, say what is really within our heart to God when praying, have no hint of transaction or trade when serving God, and satisfy and love God in all things. Only in this way will God accept everything we have done.

There are many people who are sacrificing everything, and working in the teeth of wind and rain. Some often donate, some are busy in spreading the gospel, some preach to others everywhere and some have even renounced marriage to serve the Lord all their life…. From the outside, it looks like these people have paid a great price. However, have we thought of what kind of attitude they carry when they are giving and expending and whether God will accept such sacrifices or not? The Lord Jesus said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22-23). In the end, not only are these people who heal the sick, cast out demons and perform many miracles not approved of by the Lord, but they are called by the Lord those who work iniquity and are asked to leave. I thought: Why does the Lord say they are those who work iniquity? After pondering it over and praying, I came to understand the meaning of the Lord’s speaking these words. The reason why these people are cursed by the Lord is because although they outwardly give, expend, run around and do work, their intentions are not in order to love and satisfy God, and give every care to God’s burden but to satisfy their selfish motives and personal ambitions. Some of them expend for the sake of their own status: They want to win others’ admiration and support; some spend in exchange for the blessings of the kingdom of heaven and they are making a deal with the Lord…. Such sacrifices are not based on their true heart to God, so such faith can’t be approved of by the Lord and they are not worshiping God in spirit and in truth.

Just like the Pharisees at that time, they were very familiar with the Bible for generations. Regardless of heat or cold, they persisted in going to the temple to worship Jehovah God. And they traveled all over the land and sea to preach the gospel, abandoned their families and gave up their careers to expend, and endured much hardship. But all that they had done was not for satisfying God but for their own status and livelihood. Thus, when the Lord Jesus came to do His work, they saw that there were more and more people following the Lord Jesus, which had threatened their positions, so they tried to find all kinds of accusations against the Lord Jesus, attacked and judged the Lord Jesus, and finally crucified Him on the cross. From this, we can see that the Pharisees didn’t worship God in spirit and in truth. Their godliness were all hypocritical and illusory and were all used to deceive people. So, the Lord Jesus criticized them, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” (Matthew 23:13).

The Lord Jesus said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matthew 22:37). From the Lord’s words I understood God’s will: God hopes that we are able to pursue to love Him with all our heart and soul, that our abandonment and expenditure are built upon the foundation of loving and satisfying God, and are because we are attentive to God’s burdens and want to satisfy God’s will from the bottom of our heart. Just like Peter at that time, he paid attention to use his heart to gain a grasp on and sense the Lord’s will and requirements from every word the Lord Jesus said to him. Especially the Lord three times asked him if he loved Him and instructed him to feed His sheep after the Lord’s resurrection (See John 21:15-17). He remembered the Lord’s exhortations firmly in his heart, and in his later work, he even more pursued to love and satisfy God with all his heart and soul, to the extent that he ultimately dedicated his everything and even his life completely to the Lord, becoming a person who was pleasing to and was approved by the Lord.

Through the above communication we see: If we want to be approved by God, we should take the Lord’s words into our everyday life to practice them, love and satisfy the Lord with all our heart and soul, like Peter. Only by doing this can we truly use our heart and our honesty to worship God. Amen!

Jesus Gives Us the Way to Free From Sin When He Comes Again

By Meng’en, Japan

My Dream of the Heavenly Kingdom

Since I was baptized and returned to the Lord in 1993, the pastor had often told us that as long as we believed in the Lord Jesus, the Lord would give us His righteousness without asking for anything in return, and that we would be raptured into the kingdom of heaven when He came again. After that I had been expecting the Lord to come to rapture us soon. Later, I read these words in the Bible, “And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). Then I pondered: How should I make efforts? Should I not take some practical action? For the sake of having a better chance to enter the heavenly kingdom, I must expend myself and work for the Lord based on acknowledging in my mouth and believing in Him in my heart.

A Christian’s Diary: The Misunderstanding Between My Mother and Me Has Finally Been Resolved

January 8, 2018 Monday Cloudy

Recently, my mother’s health has not been good. It is not very convenient for her to leave the house. Our church leader was afraid that this would interfere with her attending meetings. As a result, he asked me to have meetings with my mother at home. Even though I did not say anything when I heard him say this, inside, I was not very happy. In a flash, the unhappy incidences between my mother and me that occurred in the past appeared in my mind like scenes from a movie.

My mother is old now and her memory is poor. She is often forgetful when she does things. Sometimes, she forgets what I told her to do and thus, I have to repeatedly remind her. I am a very neat and tidy person, yet, I do have quite a temper. My mother is a relatively sloppy and messy person. After she finishes eating, she frequently forgets to clear the crumbs of food from the table and the floor. I find this particularly hard to bear. Since I disapprove of my mother’s habits, I frequently get peeved off and am involved in a cold war with her, and at times I even lose my temper at her, but she never changes.

Each time we eat, my mother nags a lot. If this goes on for a long time, I get a bit impatient. Sometimes, just as I am about to start eating, my mother begins to nag. When this occurs, I cannot help but become agitated. I try to repress my temper but the result is that I end up saying something quite cold: “Eat your food. Don’t talk so much.” After many of these exchanges, I started to believe that no matter how much I say, my mother will not change. In my heart, I firmly believe that my mother is someone that is just hard to get through to. Previously, I was secretly very happy that I did not need to have meetings with my mother because I no longer needed to listen to her talk endlessly. I never would have thought that this situation would change today. This was something that I really did not want to face, and it’s really hard to obey. However, I then thought, “My mother is sick and she is unable to go out by herself to attend meetings. I cannot just leave her behind and not take care of her. I have to have meetings with her.”

After we finished eating lunch, we said a prayer and then we started our meeting. After finishing reading God’s words, my mother only talked about some shallow understanding of these words. She did not talk about any knowledge of them in light of her practical experiences. I reminded her, “When we communicate God’s words, we should relate them to some of the things that we experience in our own lives, and we need to reflect on our own corrupt dispositions that we have revealed, and understand God’s intentions and God’s demands for us.” Upon hearing this, my mother started speaking endlessly. She rambled for a long time but wouldn’t speak to the point. I couldn’t stand it when she talked about all these unimportant things. All I could do was interrupt her, “Mother, you have believed in God for many years. Yet, you do not even know how to grasp the key points when communicating about God’s words. I think you do not understand anything. How can you be so silly?” My mother was so embarrassed by my attitude that she had nothing to say. The more my mother remained silent, the more I became angry. In a fit of rage, I said, “Look, all I did was point out your mistakes and you do not give me a reply at all. How are we to continue our meeting? From now on, you can do this yourself!” As a result, we parted on bad terms. Thinking of my mother’s helpless expression at that time, from the depths of my heart I now feel embarrassment. It is particularly painful. My mother is old and her caliber is poor. My demands for her should not be so high!

January 15, 2018 Monday Cloudy

Each time my mother finishes eating, the crumbs of food from her bowl end up all over the floor. After we walk back and forth and step on them a few times, the floor becomes dirty. Today, I finally came up with a solution to this: From now on, we will eat in the kitchen. That way, it would be very difficult for her to make the floor dirty. I moved a small table to the kitchen before our next meal. The result, though, was that, when it came time for the meal, my mother simply brought her food into the living room. When I saw this, I felt very helpless and I also felt angry. However, when I thought about how I was a Christian and how I was not living out even a very basic level of tolerance and patience, I felt ashamed. As a result, I reigned in my temper and gave my mother a reminder, “Mother, can you stop dropping the crumbs of food onto the table and floor?” It seemed like my mother did not detect the anger that I was trying to suppress when I gave her that reminder. She replied casually, “If it’s dirty, just clean it a bit and it should be fine.” When I saw how obstinate my mother was, I blurted out, “Mother, I have told you many times already. You never listen to my suggestions!” At this point, I suddenly thought of another matter over the past few days and I could not help but say, “Also, it was raining the day before yesterday. You came back from the vegetable fields and tracked mud all over the place. You did not clean off your shoes outside before you entered the house. You ended up making a mess of the entire house. I have told you many times to promptly take off the clothes you wear after you finish gardening and I will wash them, yet, you stubbornly do not listen.” My mother replied, “I frequently go out to do gardening work. Even if I were more diligent with removing those clothes, they wouldn’t be much cleaner.” When I heard this reply, I basically had nothing left to say. I thought, “Why is it so hard for you to do such a trivial thing? It seems like the older you get, the more stubborn you get. I don’t think I can live with you.” I quickly went to my room in order to get away from her. My mother also wanted to keep her distance from me. She stopped talking to me as much. Now when I think back of how I lost my temper at my mother during the day, my conscience feels guilty. As a daughter, I shouldn’t have treated my mother this way. As a Christian, I feel very distressed that I did not treat her with tolerance and patience.

January 16, 2018 Tuesday Clear Skies

At 5 a.m. in the morning, I was fully awake and ready to get up for spiritual devotion. When I recalled the things that had just recently happened, I thought it’s best that I bring these things before God. I prayed, “O God! These days, there is a lot of friction between my mother and me. I feel like my mother is becoming more and more obstinate. There are some matters where it seems that no matter how I communicate with her, nothing gets through. No matter how I tell her about her bad habits, she does not change. When I see her acting this way, I cannot help but dislike and avoid her or get angry at her. This hurts her, and there is a distance between her and me. O God, I do not want to rely on my corrupt disposition to live. I want to live out the normal humanity that You demand. However, most of the time, I am only patient externally. I can be tolerant for a little while but for long stretches of time, when the situation infringes on my fleshly interests, I cannot help it. O Almighty God, please guide and lead me so that I can recognize and despise my own corruption and find a path of practice. Amen!”

After I finished praying, I saw a passage in a sermon that said: “Some people do not get on with anyone and always want to be the boss, control and command others in coordination, make people listen to them and put them at the center. What disposition is this? This is satanic disposition” (“Compulsory Conditions for Entering Onto the Right Track of Believing in God” in Sermons and Fellowship on Entry Into Life (V)). Suddenly, I became conscious of the fact that I was always wanting to change my mother’s habits and have her meet my demands. When my mother did not do what I asked her to do, I would start shouting at her. I was so arrogant and irrational. What I was revealing was a corrupt satanic disposition. When I thought back to that day when I scolded my mother, I remembered that she had a helpless expression. I could see that I was relying on my arrogant disposition to live and made my mother feel constrained, and at the same time, I was hurting her. My heart began to feel even more guilty.

Then, I read a passage of God’s words which said, “When you fellowship the truth and speak the words in your heart, and describe something clearly and understandably, so that it can edify and benefit others, make them understand God’s will, and help them escape misunderstandings and fallacies, is there any need to stand on high? Is there any need to use a lecturing tone? You don’t need to scold them, you don’t need to speak loudly, or shout at them, much less use words, or a tone, or an intonation that are blunt. You just need to learn to use a normal tone, commune from the position and status of an ordinary person, speak calmly, speak the words in your heart, endeavor to pour out what you understand, what other people need to understand, and speak clearly and understandably. When what you say is understandable, other people will understand, your burden will be released, they will cease to have misunderstandings, and you will see what you say more clearly; isn’t this edifying both of you? Is there any need to harangue them? In many cases, there is no need to force this upon them. So what should you do if they don’t accept? Some of what you say is the truth, and things really are as you say, but could people accept them as soon as you say them? What do they need in order to accept these words and to change? They need a process; you must give them a process by which to change. If you say, ‘I told you yesterday, why are you saying this again today? You don’t listen to or take in anything I say! You really are old, you’re useless.’ How about these words? What do you think about this kind of child? What do you think about doing this when you say that your parents have no sense? Could your parents approve? You require them to change by saying these words once—but how many times did you have to be told before you changed? You, too, didn’t change after being told once, nor were you able to understand and accept after being told once, so you must allow your parents a process of change. Tell them this: ‘It’s actually very simple. You don’t always think of yourselves as my parents, and I won’t think of myself as your child. The relationship between us will be that of ordinary brothers and sisters. If something’s up with you, tell me. Don’t suppress it or hide it. I won’t laugh at you. If you see something wrong with me, you can point it out to me. Tell me what you understand, so that I can put it into practice and not walk the wrong path.’ What’s it called when two people confer in this way? It’s called speaking heart-to-heart. And what is the purpose of speaking heart-to-heart? Is it to maintain a proper relationship between parents and children? Let Me tell you, narrowly speaking, the purpose of speaking heart-to-heart is for there to be normal human communication, having an exchange of minds. That’s narrowly speaking. Broadly speaking, it is for people to understand each other’s state, learn from each other, support each other, and help one another—that’s the effect. And thus, isn’t the relationship by which people interact with each other normal?” (“What Should One Possess, at the Very Least, to Have Normal Humanity” in Records of Christ’s Talks).

Thank God for His guidance. Through carefully pray-reading and contemplating this passage of God’s words, I finally understood where my problem came from: I have never treated my mother the way I treat my brothers and sisters. I always wanted her to listen to me. When we encountered a situation, I did not calmly communicate the truth with her. Instead, I relied on my satanic arrogant disposition and stood on high to say some harsh words to her. This caused my mother to no longer want to be near me or open her heart to me and communicate. This also led to our relationship becoming more and more distant. When we communicated God’s words and I heard her say something that was not suitable, I did not share the light that I had received with her. Instead, I persistently demanded that she talk about her own experiences, and I never sincerely listened to her talk about what she wanted to talk to me about. God has expressed so many words, yet He has never demanded that we practice them all immediately. Instead, He has given us many opportunities to change. Yet, I was unable to treat my mother in the same manner. I always said she couldn’t do this or that and turned my back on her. I always wanted her to listen to everything I said. I insisted that she change after I finished telling her to change. I can see that I did not have any normal humanity or rationality and that I did not know to show her any tolerance and understanding. I would be angry at her all day and nitpick her on every little thing. This was all the revealing of an arrogant and conceited disposition! At the same time, I came to understand: Communicating the truth requires me to let go of my pride and to place myself on the same level as my mother and speak some words from my heart. Likewise, I have to understand her heart and her thoughts. I also have to learn to understand her practical difficulties and to use the same love that I have for my brothers and sisters in order to help her. As I pondered over God’s words, I could feel that God’s love for man is so real: He provides me with the practical solutions for the real life problems that I am facing, and He helps me to learn how to conduct myself according to the truth and establish a normal relationship with my mother so that we can support and help each other in regard to entry into life and be after His heart. I thanked God for His guidance that I finally found some paths of practice. I decided to read God’s words with my mother and to apologize to her and have a heart-to-heart talk with her.

What is the difference between the work of God incarnate and the work of the Spirit?

 What is the difference between the work of God incarnate and the work of the Spirit?

Bible Verses for Reference:

“And he said, I beseech you, show me your glory. And he said, … You can not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live” (Exo 33:18-20).

“And Jehovah came down on mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and Jehovah called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. And Jehovah said to Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through to Jehovah to gaze, and many of them perish” (Exo 19:20-21).

“And all the people saw the thunder, and the lightning, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, Speak you with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die” (Exo 20:18-19).

“Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spoke to him” (Jhn 12:28-29).

Relevant Word of God:

God’s saving of man is not done directly through the means of the Spirit or as the Spirit, for His Spirit can neither be touched nor seen by man, and cannot be approached by man. If He tried to save man directly in the manner of the Spirit, man would be unable to receive His salvation. And if not for God putting on the outward form of a created man, they would be unable to receive this salvation. For man can in no way approach Him, much like how none could go near the cloud of Jehovah. Only by becoming a man of creation, that is, putting His word into the flesh He will become, can He personally work the word into all who follow Him. Only then can man hear for himself His word, see His word, and receive His word, then through this be fully saved. If God did not become flesh, no fleshly man would receive such great salvation, nor would a single man be saved. If the Spirit of God worked directly among man, man would be smitten or completely carried away captive by Satan because man is unable to associate with God.

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

If God does not become flesh, He remains the Spirit both invisible and intangible to man. Man is a creature of flesh, and man and God belong to two different worlds and are different in nature. The Spirit of God is incompatible with man of flesh, and no relations can be established between them; moreover, man cannot become a spirit. As such, the Spirit of God must become one of the creatures and do His original work. God can both ascend to the highest place and humble Himself by becoming a man of creation, doing work and living among man, but man cannot ascend to the highest place and become a spirit and much less can he descend to the lowest place. Therefore, God must become flesh to carry out His work. Much as with the first incarnation, only the flesh of God incarnate could redeem man through His crucifixion, whereas it was not possible for the Spirit of God to be crucified as a sin offering for man. God could directly become flesh to serve as a sin offering for man, but man could not directly ascend to heaven to take the sin offering that God had prepared for them. As such, God must journey to and fro between heaven and earth, rather than letting man ascend to heaven to take this salvation, for man had fallen and could not ascend to heaven, much less obtain the sin offering. Therefore, it was necessary for Jesus to come among men and personally do the work that simply could not be accomplished by man. Every time that God became flesh, it was absolutely necessary to do so. If any of the stages could have been carried out directly by the Spirit of God, He would not have endured the indignities of being incarnated.

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

So, if this work were done by the Spirit—if God did not become flesh, and instead the Spirit spoke directly through thunder so that man had no way to have contact with Him, would man be able to know His disposition? If it were solely the Spirit that did the work, then man would have no way of coming to know God’s disposition. People can only behold God’s disposition with their own eyes when He becomes flesh, when the Word appears in the flesh, and He expresses His entire disposition through the flesh. God really and truly lives among men. He is tangible; man can actually engage with His disposition, engage with what He has and is; only in this way can man truly come to know Him.

from “The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Though God’s work in the flesh involves many unimaginable difficulties, the effects that it ultimately achieves far exceed those of the work done directly by the Spirit. The work of the flesh entails much hardship, and the flesh cannot possess the same great identity as the Spirit, cannot carry out the same supernatural deeds as the Spirit, much less can He possess the same authority as the Spirit. Yet the substance of the work done by this unremarkable flesh is far superior to that of the work done directly by the Spirit, and this flesh Himself is the answer to all of man’s needs. For those to be saved, the use value of the Spirit is far inferior to that of the flesh: The work of the Spirit is able to cover the entire universe, across all mountains, rivers, lakes, and oceans, yet the work of the flesh more effectively relates to every person with whom He has contact. What’s more, God’s flesh with tangible form can better be understood and trusted by man, and can further deepen man’s knowledge of God, and can leave upon man a more profound impression of the actual deeds of God. The work of the Spirit is shrouded in mystery, it is difficult for mortal beings to fathom, and even harder for them to see, and so they can only rely on hollow imaginings. The work of the flesh, however, is normal, and based on reality, and possessed of rich wisdom, and is a fact that can be beheld by the physical eye of man; man can personally experience the wisdom of the work of God, and has no need to employ his bountiful imagination. This is the accuracy and real value of the work of God in the flesh. The Spirit can only do things that are invisible to man and difficult for him to imagine, for example the enlightenment of the Spirit, the moving of the Spirit, and the guidance of the Spirit, but for man who has a mind, these do not provide any clear meaning. They only provide a moving, or a broad meaning, and cannot give an instruction with words. The work of God in the flesh, however, is greatly different: It has accurate guidance of words, has clear will, and has clear required goals. And so man does not need to grope around, or employ his imagination, much less make guesses. This is the clarity of the work in the flesh, and its great difference from the work of the Spirit. The work of the Spirit is only suitable for a limited scope, and cannot replace the work of the flesh. The work of the flesh gives man far more exact and necessary goals and far more real, valuable knowledge than the work of the Spirit. The work that is of greatest value to corrupt man is that which provides accurate words, clear goals to pursue, and which can be seen and touched. Only realistic work and timely guidance are suited to man’s tastes, and only real work can save man from his corrupt and depraved disposition. This can only be achieved by the incarnate God; only the incarnate God can save man from his formerly corrupt and depraved disposition. Although the Spirit is the inherent substance of God, work such as this can only be done by His flesh. If the Spirit worked single-handedly, then it would not be possible for His work to be effective—this is a plain truth.

from “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

For everyone who seeks the truth and longs for the appearance of God, the Spirit’s work can only provide moving or revelation, and a sense of wondrousness that it is inexplicable and unimaginable, and a sense that it is great, transcendent, and admirable, yet also unattainable and unobtainable to all. Man and the Spirit of God can only look upon each other from afar, as if there is a great distance between them, and they can never be alike, as if separated by an invisible divide. In fact, this is an illusion given to man by the Spirit, which is because the Spirit and man are not of the same kind, and the Spirit and man shall never coexist in the same world, and because the Spirit possesses nothing of man. So man does not have need of the Spirit, for the Spirit cannot directly do the work most needed by man. The work of the flesh offers man real objectives to pursue, clear words, and a sense that He is real and normal, that He is humble and ordinary. Although man may fear Him, for most people He is easy to relate to: Man can behold His face, and hear His voice, and does not need to look at Him from afar. This flesh feels approachable to man, not distant, or unfathomable, but visible and touchable, for this flesh is in the same world as man.

from “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

When God had not become flesh, people did not understand much of what He said because it came out of complete divinity. The perspective and context of what He said was invisible and unreachable to mankind; it was expressed from a spiritual realm that people could not see. For people who lived in the flesh, they could not pass through the spiritual realm. But after God became flesh, He spoke to mankind from the perspective of humanity, and He came out of and surpassed the scope of the spiritual realm. He could express His divine disposition, will, and attitude, through things humans could imagine and things they saw and encountered in their lives, and using methods that humans could accept, in a language they could understand, and knowledge they could grasp, to allow mankind to understand and to know God, to comprehend His intention and His required standards within the scope of their capacity, to the degree that they were able. This was the method and principle of God’s work in humanity. Even though God’s ways and His principles of working in the flesh were mostly achieved by or through humanity, it truly did achieve results that could not be achieved by working directly in divinity.

from “God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh

This was the advantage of God becoming flesh: He could take advantage of mankind’s knowledge and use human language to speak to people, to express His will. He explained or “translated” to man His profound, divine language that people struggled to understand in human language, in a human way. This helped people understand His will and know what He wanted to do. He could also have conversations with people from the human perspective, using human language, and communicate with people in a way they understood. He could even speak and work using human language and knowledge so that people could feel God’s kindness and closeness, so that they could see His heart.

from “God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself III” in Continuation of The Word Appears in the Flesh

The work done by the Spirit is implied and unfathomable, and it is fearful and unapproachable to man; the Spirit is not suited to directly doing the work of salvation, and is not suited to directly providing life to man. Most suitable for man is to transform the work of the Spirit into an approach that is close to man, which is to say, what is most suitable for man is for God to become an ordinary, normal person to do His work. This requires God to be incarnated to replace the work of the Spirit, and for man, there is no more suitable way for God to work.

from “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

If the Spirit of God directly spoke to man, they would all submit to the voice, falling down without words of revelation, much like how Paul fell to the ground amid the light as he journeyed to Damascus. If God continued to work in this way, man would never be able to know his own corruption through judgment by the word and attain salvation. Only through becoming flesh can He personally deliver His words to the ears of all so that all who have ears can hear His words and receive His work of judgment by the word. Only such is the result achieved by His word, rather than the emergence of the Spirit frightening man into submission. Only through such practical and extraordinary work can the old disposition of man, hidden deep within for many years, be fully revealed so that man may recognize it and have it changed. This is the practical work of God incarnate; He speaks and executes judgment in a practical manner to achieve the results of judgment upon man by the word. This is the authority of God incarnate and the significance of God’s incarnation. … He becomes flesh because the flesh can also possess authority, and He is capable of carrying out work among man in a practical manner, which is visible and tangible to man. Such work is much more realistic than any work directly done by the Spirit of God who possesses all authority, and its results are apparent as well. This is because His incarnate flesh can speak and do work in a practical way; the outward form of His flesh holds no authority and can be approached by man. His substance carries authority, but His authority is visible to none. When He speaks and works, man is unable to detect the existence of His authority; this is even more favorable to His actual work. And all of such work can achieve results. Even though no man realizes that He holds authority or sees that He cannot be offended or sees His wrath, through His veiled authority and wrath and public speech, He achieves the intended results of His words. In other words, through His tone of voice, sternness of speech, and all the wisdom of His words, man is utterly convinced. In this way, man submits to the word of God incarnate, who seemingly has no authority, thereby attaining His aim of salvation for man. This is another significance of His incarnation: to speak more realistically and allow the reality of His words to have an effect upon man so that they witness the power of the word of God. So this work, if not done through incarnation, would not achieve the slightest results and would not be able to fully save sinners.

from “The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Because the one who is judged is man, man who is of the flesh and has been corrupted, and it is not the spirit of Satan that is judged directly, the work of judgment is not carried out in the spiritual world, but among man. No one is more suitable, and qualified, than God in the flesh for the work of judging the corruption of man’s flesh. If judgment were carried out directly by the Spirit of God, then it would not be all-embracing. Furthermore, such work would be difficult for man to accept, for the Spirit is unable to come face-to-face with man, and because of this, the effects would not be immediate, much less would man be able to behold the unoffendable disposition of God more clearly. Satan can only be fully defeated if God in the flesh judges the corruption of mankind. … If this work were done by the Spirit of God, then it would not be victory over Satan. The Spirit is inherently more exalted than mortal beings, and the Spirit of God is inherently holy, and triumphant over the flesh. If the Spirit did this work directly, He would not be able to judge all of man’s disobedience, and could not reveal all of man’s unrighteousness. For the work of judgment is also carried out through man’s conceptions of God, and man has never had any conceptions of the Spirit, and so the Spirit is incapable of better revealing the unrighteousness of man, much less of completely disclosing such unrighteousness. The incarnate God is the enemy of all those who do not know Him. Through judging man’s conceptions and opposition to Him, He discloses all the disobedience of mankind. The effects of His work in the flesh are more apparent than those of the work of the Spirit. And so, the judgment of all mankind is not carried out directly by the Spirit, but is the work of the incarnate God. God in the flesh can be seen and touched by man, and God in the flesh can completely conquer man. In his relationship with God in the flesh, man progresses from opposition to obedience, from persecution to acceptance, from conception to knowledge, and from rejection to love. These are the effects of the work of the incarnate God. Man is only saved through the acceptance of His judgment, only gradually comes to know Him through the words of His mouth, is conquered by Him during his opposition to Him, and receives the life supply from Him during the acceptance of His chastisement. All of this work is the work of God in the flesh, and not the work of God in His identity as the Spirit.

from “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

Yet there is one truth that you do not know: The corrupt disposition and rebellion and resistance of man are exposed when he sees Christ, and the rebellion and resistance exposed on such occasion are more absolute and complete than on any other. It is because Christ is the Son of man and possesses normal humanity that man neither honors nor respects Him. It is because God lives in the flesh that the rebellion of man is brought to light thoroughly and vividly. So I say that the coming of Christ has unearthed all the rebellion of mankind and has thrown the nature of mankind into sharp relief. This is called “luring a tiger down the mountain” and “luring a wolf out of the cave.”

from “Those Incompatible With Christ Are Surely Opponents of God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The conceptions of man are laid bare when the incarnate God officially does His work, because the normality and reality of the incarnate God is the antithesis of the vague and supernatural God in man’s imagination. The original conceptions of man can only be revealed through their contrast to the incarnate God. Without the comparison to the incarnate God, the conceptions of man could not be revealed; in other words, without the contrast of reality the vague things could not be revealed. No one is capable of using words to do this work, and no one is capable of articulating this work using words. Only God Himself can do His own work, and no one else can do this work on His behalf. No matter how rich the language of man is, he is incapable of articulating the reality and normality of God. Man can only know God more practically, and can only see Him more clearly, if God personally works among man and completely shows forth His image and His being. This effect cannot be achieved by any fleshly man. Of course, God’s Spirit is also incapable of achieving this effect. God can save corrupt man from the influence of Satan, but this work cannot be directly accomplished by the Spirit of God; rather, it can only be done by the flesh God’s Spirit wears, by God’s incarnate flesh.

from “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

The best thing about His work in the flesh is that He can leave accurate words and exhortations, and His accurate will for mankind to those who follow Him, so that afterward His followers can more accurately and more concretely pass on all of His work in the flesh and His will for the whole of mankind to those who accept this way. Only the work of God in the flesh among man truly accomplishes the fact of God’s being and living together with man. Only this work fulfills man’s desire to behold the face of God, witness the work of God, and hear the personal word of God. The incarnate God brings to an end the age when only the back of Jehovah appeared to mankind, and also concludes the age of mankind’s belief in the vague God. In particular, the work of the last incarnate God brings all mankind into an age that is more realistic, more practical, and more pleasant. He not only concludes the age of law and doctrine; more importantly, He reveals to mankind a God who is real and normal, who is righteous and holy, who unlocks the work of the management plan and demonstrates the mysteries and destination of mankind, who created mankind and brings to an end the management work, and who has remained hidden for thousands of years. He brings the age of vagueness to a complete end, He concludes the age in which the whole of mankind wished to seek God’s face but was unable to, He ends the age in which the whole of mankind served Satan, and leads the whole of mankind all the way into a completely new era. All this is the outcome of the work of God in the flesh instead of God’s Spirit. When God works in His flesh, those who follow Him no longer seek and grope after those vague and ambiguous things, and cease to guess at the will of the vague God. When God spreads His work in the flesh, those who follow Him shall pass on the work that He has done in the flesh to all religions and denominations, and they shall communicate all of His words to the ears of the whole of mankind. All that is heard by those who receive His gospel shall be the facts of His work, shall be things personally seen and heard by man, and shall be facts and not hearsay. These facts are the evidence with which He spreads the work, and are also the tools that He uses in spreading the work. Without the existence of facts, His gospel would not spread across all countries and to all places; without facts but only with man’s imaginations, He would never be able to do the work of conquering the entire universe. The Spirit is impalpable to man, and invisible to man, and the work of the Spirit is incapable of leaving any further evidence or facts of God’s work for man. Man shall never behold the real face of God, and shall always believe in a vague God that does not exist. Man shall never behold the face of God, nor will man ever hear words personally spoken by God. Man’s imaginings are, after all, empty, and cannot replace the true face of God; the inherent disposition of God, and the work of God Himself cannot be impersonated by man. The invisible God in heaven and His work can only be brought to earth by God incarnate who personally does His work among man. This is the most ideal way in which God appears to man, in which man sees God and comes to know the true face of God, and it cannot be achieved by a non-incarnate God.

from “Corrupt Mankind Is More in Need of the Salvation of God Become Flesh” in The Word Appears in the Flesh