1. Disasters are happening frequently all over the world, and they are growing in scale, heralding the arrival of the last days. The Bible says, “The end of all things is at hand” (1 Peter 4:7). We know that when the Lord returns during the last days He will reward good and punish evil and determine people’s ends. So how will He reward good and punish evil, and how will He determine people’s ends?
Relevant Words of God:
In His final work of concluding the age, God’s disposition is one of chastisement and judgment, in which He reveals all that is unrighteous, in order to publicly judge the myriad peoples, and to perfect those who sincerely love Him. Only a disposition such as this can bring the age to an end. The last days have already arrived. All things are sorted according to their kind, and divided into different categories based on their different qualities. This is precisely the time when God reveals people’s outcomes and destinations. If people do not experience chastisement and judgment, then their rebelliousness and unrighteousness cannot be exposed. Only through chastisement and judgment can the outcomes of all things be revealed. People only show their true colors when they are chastised and judged. Evil shall be put with evil, good with good, and all people shall be sorted according to their kind. Through chastisement and judgment, the outcomes of all things will be revealed, so that the evil may be punished and the good rewarded, and the myriad people surrender to the dominion of God. All this work must be achieved through righteous chastisement and judgment. Because people’s corruption has reached its peak and their rebelliousness is exceedingly severe, only God’s righteous disposition, one that is principally compounded of chastisement and judgment and is revealed during the last days, can fully transform people and make them complete, and reveal evil, and all the unrighteous will thus be severely punished.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Vision of God’s Work (3)
The purpose of God’s work of chastisement and judgment is in essence meant to purify humanity, for the sake of the ultimate day of rest; otherwise no members of humanity could be sorted according to their kind, or enter into rest. This work is humanity’s only path to enter into rest. Only God’s work of purification will cleanse humans of their unrighteousness, and only His work of chastisement and judgment will expose those rebellious elements of humanity, thereby distinguishing those who can be saved from those who cannot, and those who will remain from those who will not. When this work ends, those people who are allowed to remain will all be cleansed and enter a higher realm of humanity in which they will enjoy a more wonderful second human life upon the earth; in other words, they will enter their human day of rest, and coexist with God. After those who are not allowed to remain have been chastised and judged, their true colors will be entirely exposed, after which they will all be destroyed and, like Satan, will no longer be permitted to survive upon the earth. The humanity of the future will no longer include any of this type of people; such people are not fit to enter the land of the ultimate rest, nor are they fit to join in the day of rest that God and humanity will share, for they are the targets of punishment and are evil, unrighteous people. They were redeemed once, and they have also been judged and chastised; they also once labored for God. However, when the final day comes, they will still be eliminated and destroyed due to their evil and as a result of their rebelliousness and inability to be redeemed; they will never again come into being in the world of the future, and will no longer live among the human race of the future. Whether they are spirits of the dead or people still living in the flesh, all evildoers and all those who have not been saved will be destroyed once the sanctified among humanity enter into rest. As for these evildoing spirits and humans, or the spirits of righteous people and those who do righteousness, regardless of what era they are in, all those who are evil will ultimately be destroyed, and all those who are righteous will survive. Whether a person or spirit will receive salvation is not entirely decided on the basis of the work of the final age; rather, it is determined by whether or not they have resisted or rebelled against God. People in the previous era who committed evil and could not attain salvation will, undoubtedly, be targets for punishment, and those in the current era who commit evil and cannot be saved will surely be targets for punishment, too. Humans are categorized on the basis of good and evil, not by which epoch they live in. Once thus categorized, they will not be punished or rewarded immediately; rather, God will only carry out His work of punishing evil and rewarding good after He has finished carrying out His work of conquest in the last days. Actually, He has been separating humans into good and evil ever since He started doing His work of mankind’s salvation. It is just that He will reward the righteous and punish the evil only after His work has come to an end; it is not that He will separate them into categories upon the completion of His work and then immediately set about the task of punishing evil and rewarding good. Rather, this task will be done only when His work is wholly finished. The sole purpose behind God’s ultimate work of punishing evil and rewarding good is to thoroughly purify all humans so that He may bring a purely sanctified humanity into eternal rest. This stage of His work is the most crucial; it is the final stage of the whole of His work of management. If God did not destroy the evil, but instead allowed them to remain, then all of humanity would still be unable to enter into rest, and God would not be able to bring them into a better realm. Such work would not be completely finished. When His work is finished, the whole of humanity will be entirely sanctified; only in this way will God be able to live in rest peacefully.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together
Now is the time when I determine the outcome for each person, not the stage in which I began to work man. I write down in My record book, one by one, the words and actions of each person, the course of their following Me, their inherent classification, and their ultimate manifestations. In this way, no matter what kind of person they are, no one shall escape My hand, and all shall be sorted according to their kind based on My allocation. I determine the destination of each person not on the basis of age, seniority, or amount of suffering, much less on how pitiable they are, but according to whether they possess the truth. There is no other choice but this. You must understand that all those who do not follow the will of God shall be punished without exception. This is something that no person can change. Therefore, all those who are punished are so punished for the righteousness of God and as retribution for their numerous evil acts.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Prepare Sufficient Good Deeds for Your Destination
Before humanity enters into rest, whether each sort of person is punished or rewarded will be determined according to whether they have sought the truth, whether they know God, and whether they can submit to the visible God. Those who have labored for the visible God, yet neither know Him nor submit to Him, don’t have truth. Such people are evildoers, and evildoers will undoubtedly be objects of punishment; furthermore, they shall be punished according to their evil deeds. God is for humans to believe in, and He is also worthy of their submission. Those who only have faith in the vague and invisible God are people who do not believe in God and are unable to submit to God. If these people still cannot manage to believe in the visible God by the time His work of conquest is finished, and continue to rebel against and resist the visible God who is in the flesh, then these “vagueists” will, without a doubt, become objects of destruction. It is just like some among you—all those who verbally acknowledge God incarnate, yet cannot practice the truth of submission to God incarnate, are ultimately to be eliminated and destroyed. Moreover, all those who verbally acknowledge the visible God and eat and drink of the truth expressed by Him, and yet pursue the vague and invisible God, even more so will be the objects of destruction. None of these people will be able to remain until the time of rest that will come after God’s work has finished, nor can a single individual similar to such people remain until that time of rest. People who are of demons do not practice the truth; their essence is one of resistance and rebelliousness to God, and they do not have the slightest intention of submitting to Him. Such people will all be destroyed. Whether you have truth and whether you resist God depend on your essence, not on your appearance or how you might occasionally speak or act. Whether or not an individual will be destroyed is determined by their essence; it is decided according to the essence revealed by their behavior and their pursuit of the truth. Among people who all perform work and do the same amount of work, those with good essences of humanity who possess the truth are the ones who will be allowed to remain, while those with evil essences of humanity who rebel against the visible God are the ones who will be objects of destruction.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together
The standard by which humans judge other humans is based on their behavior; those whose behavior is good are righteous, while those whose behavior is abominable are evil. The standard by which God judges humans is based on whether their essence submits to Him or not; one who submits to God is a righteous person, while one who does not is an enemy and an evil person, regardless of whether this person’s behavior is good or bad and regardless of whether their speech is correct or incorrect. Some people wish to use good deeds to obtain a good destination in the future, and some people wish to use fine words to acquire a good destination. Everyone mistakenly believes that God determines people’s outcomes after watching their behavior or after listening to their speech; many people therefore wish to take advantage of this to deceive God into granting them momentary grace. In the future, the people who will survive in a state of rest will all have endured the day of suffering and will also have borne witness for God; they will all be people who have fulfilled their duties and who have deliberately submitted to God. Those who merely wish to use the opportunity to do service with the intention of avoiding practicing the truth will not be allowed to remain. God has appropriate standards for the arrangement of the outcome of every individual; He does not simply make these decisions according to one’s words and conduct, nor does He make them based on how one acts during a single period of time. He will absolutely not be lenient with regard to one’s evil deeds due to their past service for Him, nor will He spare one from death due to a period of time spent expending for Him. No one can evade retribution for their evil, and no one can cover up their evil behavior and thereby evade the torments of destruction. If people can truly fulfill their own duty, it means that they are eternally loyal to God and not seeking rewards, regardless of whether they receive blessings or suffer misfortune. If people are loyal to God when they see blessings, but lose their loyalty when they cannot see any blessings, and if these people—who once labored for God loyally—are ultimately still unable to bear witness for God or fulfill the duties incumbent upon them, then such people will still be objects of destruction. In short, evil people cannot survive through eternity, nor can they enter into rest; only the righteous are the masters of rest.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together
Whether one receives blessings or suffers misfortune is determined according to one’s essence, not according to any common essence one might share with others. That sort of saying or rule simply has no place in the kingdom. If a person is ultimately able to survive, it is because they have met God’s requirements, and if they are ultimately unable to remain until the time of rest, it is because they have been rebellious against God and have not satisfied God’s requirements. Everyone has a suitable destination, which is determined according to each individual’s essence, and has absolutely nothing to do with other people. A child’s evil behavior cannot be transferred to their parents, nor can a child’s righteousness be shared with their parents. A parent’s evil behavior cannot be transferred to their children, nor can a parent’s righteousness be shared with their children. Everyone bears their respective sins, and everyone enjoys their respective blessings. No one can be a substitute for another person; this is righteousness. From man’s perspective, if parents receive blessings, then their children should be able to, too, and if children commit evil, then their parents must atone for those sins. This is a human perspective and a human way of doing things; it is not God’s perspective. Everyone’s outcome is determined according to the essence of their deeds, and it is always determined appropriately. No one can bear the sins of another; even more so, no one can receive punishment in another’s stead. This is absolute. A parent’s doting care for their children does not indicate that they can perform righteous deeds in their children’s stead, nor does the dutiful affection of a child to their parents mean that they can perform righteous deeds in their parents’ stead. This is what is truly meant by the words, “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left.” People cannot take their evildoing children into rest on the basis of their deep love for them, nor can anyone take their wife (or husband) into rest on the basis of their own righteous deeds. This is an administrative rule; there can be no exceptions for anyone. In the end, doers of righteousness are doers of righteousness, and evildoers are evildoers. The doers of righteousness will eventually be allowed to survive, while the evildoers will be destroyed. The holy are holy; they are not filthy. The filthy are filthy, and not one part of them is holy. The people who will be destroyed are all the evil ones, and the ones who will survive are all the righteous—even if the children of the evil ones perform righteous deeds, and even if the parents of the righteous ones commit evil deeds. There is no relationship between a believing husband and a nonbelieving wife, and there is no relationship between believing children and nonbelieving parents; these two types of people are completely incompatible. Prior to entering into rest, people have fleshly, familial affection, but once they have entered into rest, there will no longer be any fleshly, familial affection to speak of. Those who do their duty are enemies of those who do not; those who love God and those who hate Him are in opposition to one another. Those who will enter into rest and those who will have been destroyed are two incompatible types of created beings. Created beings that fulfill their duties will be able to survive, while those that do not fulfill their duties will be objects of destruction; what is more, this shall last through eternity.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together
Do you understand now what judgment is and what the truth is? If you do, then I advise you to submit obediently to being judged, otherwise you shall never have the opportunity to be approved of by God or to be brought by Him into His kingdom. Those who only accept judgment but can never be purified, that is, those who flee amidst the work of judgment, shall forever be spurned by God. Their sins are more grievous, and more numerous, than those of the Pharisees, for they have betrayed God and are rebels against God. These people who are not worthy even to labor shall receive a more severe punishment, a punishment that is, moreover, everlasting. God shall not spare any traitor who once evinced loyalty with words but then betrayed Him. Such people shall receive retribution through punishment of the spirit, soul, and body. Is this not precisely a revelation of the righteous disposition of God? Is this not precisely God’s purpose in judging and revealing man? God consigns those who perform all kinds of evil deeds during the time of judgment to a place infested with evil spirits, and lets those evil spirits destroy their fleshly bodies as they wish, and those people’s bodies emit the stench of corpses. Such is their due retribution. God writes each and every one of the sins of those disloyal false believers, false apostles, and false workers in their record books, and when the time is right, He casts them amidst the unclean spirits, letting those unclean spirits defile their entire bodies at will, and makes it so that they can never be reincarnated and never again see the light. God lists among the evil those hypocrites who do service for a time but do not remain loyal to the end, allowing them to wallow in the mire with the evil people and form with them a gang of motley miscreants, and in the end, God shall annihilate them. God casts aside and takes no notice of those who have never been loyal to Christ or have never contributed any of their strength, and at the changing of the age He shall annihilate them all. They shall no longer exist on earth, much less gain passage into the kingdom of God. God lists among those who render service for His people anyone who has never been sincere to God, but has no other choice but to deal with Him perfunctorily. Only a small number of such people will survive, while the majority shall be destroyed along with those whose labor is not even up to standard. In the end, God shall bring into His kingdom all those who are of the same heart and mind as God, the people and the sons of God, and those predestined by God to be priests. They are the crystallization of God’s work. As for those who cannot be classed into any of the categories demarcated by God, they shall be listed among the ranks of the nonbelievers, and you can surely imagine what their outcome shall be. I have already said to you all that I should say; the path that you select is your choice alone. What you should understand is this: The work of God never waits for any person that cannot keep pace with Him, and the righteous disposition of God shows no mercy to any man.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth
