Previously, when only the first volume of The Word Appears in the Flesh had been expressed and lots of people went out to preach the gospel, quite a few religious people read God’s words and accepted this stage of God’s work; the religious world completely fell apart. Now, the second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh volumes have all been expressed, and have subsequently spread to each corner and religious venue of every race and country. When these words are made public to all of humankind, tell Me, what effect will that have? What kind of scene will it be? Humankind will be different, right? (Yes.) During one year in which the gospel was spread widely throughout China, some people braved the danger to go preaching the gospel everywhere, in places like streets, factories, and villages. At that time, there were truly so many people who accepted the gospel. When only the first volume of The Word Appears in the Flesh had been expressed, there were already many people who believed and acknowledged that this is the true way. Some people acknowledged it was the true way but did not dare to accept it because of the frantic suppression, arrests, and persecution by the great red dragon, yet God’s words still spread throughout the entirety of China. The Church of Almighty God was established in every province, city, and county. This left the great red dragon trembling with fear; it did its utmost to carry out suppression and arrests, and even threatened that “The forces shall only withdraw once the eradication is complete.” But no one expected that ten years later, God’s words would spread to all countries and places of the world. In particular, we’ve witnessed the continual wide spread of the gospel work in the Philippines in Asia, in North America and South America, and in Europe and Africa. When preaching the gospel in China, there was a term called “group evangelism,” which referred to preaching the gospel to several or dozens of people at the same time, which produced particularly good results. Later, due to the frantic suppression and arrests by the great red dragon, this method was halted, but it has become popular again in some other countries. In some Asian countries, they do not call it “group evangelism,” but rather “spreading the gospel to whole villages, schools, and factories,” and they even spread the gospel to government agencies, police stations, and military units. A similar scene emerged: Many people have accepted the gospel. All of humankind, no matter what industry they are in, what group they are a part of, or what ethnic group they are from, live in darkness, helplessness, and disorientation. They do not know how to live, and do not know how to conduct themselves; humankind needs God’s salvation. This salvation is not a formality, nor is it a ritual. Rather, saving people requires God’s words, the leading of God’s words, the guidance and enlightenment of God’s words, and God using explicit language to point out the direction and path for people, and also to teach people how to conduct themselves, what kind of people to be, what kind of path to walk, and what principles to follow with each matter they encounter. This humankind needs these truths so much. Therefore, when the people preaching the gospel spread it to whole villages, towns, schools, factories, military units, and police stations, they read aloud some relevant words of God and also testified to God’s three stages of work. Most gospel recipients were willing to listen and accept, and they also wanted to participate in church life—it was just that their conditions at the time did not permit this; they were subject to some restrictions. But judging from these phenomena that have occurred during the spread of the gospel, this humankind lives particularly sad, pitiful lives, and they need the guidance of God’s words. Only God’s words can provide them with direction and goals, enable them to live better, and enable them to continue to survive, no longer suffering the affliction of Satan or of evil trends. If all of humankind accepted these words of God, and accepted God’s provision and the guidance of God’s words from Him, then tell Me, wouldn’t they live very happily? (Yes.) One thing is for certain: If this humankind accepted the provision and guidance of God’s words, they would live amid God’s blessings and no longer suffer the affliction of Satan, and their outcome would be different from that of this current corrupt humankind. Isn’t this so? (Yes.) Have you heard some things about these situations regarding preaching the gospel? (Yes.) With people who’ve believed in God for many years, after they’ve read these words of God for a long time, they merely feel in their hearts, “These are God’s words, these words are good, and they are the truth,” without feeling very excited. But with those who have only just heard these words, they feel nourishment deep within their hearts, like fish finding their way back to a stream. There is a saying, “as refreshing as rain after a long drought”—this is exactly how they feel. Therefore, many people have been willing to accept God’s words after hearing them. Students in schools, police officers and police chiefs in police stations, and government officials have all been willing to accept them. There are even pastors in the religious world who have taken the lead in accepting them, bringing some fellow clergy members and believers into the church. No matter how you look at it, the words spoken and the truths expressed by God incarnate can not only supply humankind’s needs, but also change their fate. Therefore, the truths concerning knowing God incarnate are very important, and knowing Him is a part of knowing God; there is no doubt about this. Have you come to know these things? (Through God fellowshipping like this, we have somewhat come to know them. In the past, our knowledge of God incarnate was all doctrine; we knew that God holds sovereignty over everything, but we did not see the facts. After God’s fellowship, it has become clearer to us.) Now that it’s clearer to you, do you have more faith? (Yes.) If one day in your local church most people develop doubts about God, don’t dare to believe anymore, and lose their faith because of the government’s persecution and the world’s rejection, leaving you as the only one remaining, and on top of that, many people judge and condemn you, saying, “What you believe in is a person; you have been misled,” what would you do? (I would ignore them and continue to believe.) Would you be affected? Would you feel lonely? Would you also develop doubts, thinking to yourself, “So many people in this world don’t believe; is my belief actually right? What can I gain by continuing to believe like this? Will I have a good outcome and destination?” Would you think this way? (Seeing now that many of God’s words have already been accomplished and fulfilled, we would not have these thoughts, but sometimes we would still have some weakness.) Weakness is nothing to fear. There is one point which, if you can be certain of it, will prevent you from stumbling because of this weakness. You must remember this point: No matter how normal and practical God incarnate is, even if you see what you consider to be defects and inadequacies in Him, or even if you hear some baseless rumors, or you learn that God incarnate has been ill and has had manifestations of pain and weakness, none of these are problems. No matter how normal and practical God incarnate is, no matter how ordinary He is, and no matter what His outward appearance is like, just firmly hold fast to one thing—He is the truth, the way, and the life. This is your reason for following Him, and it is also the basis of your belief in God. If you can be certain of this point, that is enough, and you will never have regrets. You follow Him for no other reason than because He is the truth, the way, and the life; He can bring you before God, He can represent God, and He is God’s manifestation, God’s expression, and the One entrusted with God’s work on earth. It is right for you to follow Him. In following Him, you are not following a person, but rather following God. You are a follower of God, one of God’s sheep; you have not taken the wrong path. In following Him, you will never take the wrong path and will never lose your bearings. In following Him, you are a created being of God; you can never go wrong by following Him. Once you are certain of this, the foundation of your belief in God is laid. No matter how normal and practical God incarnate seems to you, no matter what baseless rumors or fallacies you hear, or what notions you still have that are unresolved, none of that matters. Even if you have weakness and pain, that does not matter either. As long as you have true faith, as long as you can seek the truth to resolve whatever problems you encounter, and you never leave God at any time, in the end you will certainly be someone gained by God, a member of the new humankind that enters the next age, and you will be one who is blessed. Therefore, at all times, you must not be influenced by the external environment, by any remarks, by anyone you consider to be a great figure or person of renown, or by anyone you worship. All you have to do is firmly believe that the One who is the truth, the way, and the life is God Himself—that is enough.

What we fellowshipped on just now was the importance of the truths concerning knowing God incarnate. Because God incarnate is fully capable of representing God Himself in doing God’s own work, then naturally, the influence of the words He speaks and the work He does on all of humankind will also gradually come about and be seen by you. No matter what, the work done by God incarnate is the work done by God Himself, and the words He expresses are the words expressed by God Himself. That is to say, no matter what God incarnate’s image or outward appearance is like, He is fully capable of representing God Himself. Therefore, knowing God incarnate is also a part of knowing God, and you should not overlook the truths in this regard. If you want to know God and know the God in heaven, and if you want to let go of your notions and imaginings about the God in heaven, then first you must know the God on earth, know God incarnate, and let go of your notions and imaginings about God incarnate. Doing so can help even more in increasing your faith in God and solidifying your foundation as a follower of God. As long as you are certain that God incarnate is God Himself, and that He is the truth, the way, and the life, then you will not regard Him as a person. The more you follow Him and experience His words and work, the more you will feel, “This ordinary person is not ordinary. He is not an ordinary person in the true sense of the term; rather, He is an ordinary person with God’s essence.” Once you realize this, you will not regard Him as a member of ordinary corrupt humankind, but will treat Him as a person with God’s identity and essence. This will be different from how you treat a member of ordinary corrupt humankind, using the philosophies for worldly dealings and ways of handling things that exist among people; rather, you will treat God incarnate the way you’d treat God. By treating this incarnate Son of man like this, you can come to know Him. When you treat Him the way God requires, you do not need to be fearful and worried, nor do you need to be overcautious, much less do you need to be guarded. Rather, you should treat Him with the method and attitude most correct for treating God. This way of treating Him is, of course, also the way a created being ought to treat God. What were the ways of treating God that we mentioned before? Do you still remember? (The first is being open and honest, the second is showing respect, and the third is obeying His words.) Being open and honest, showing respect, and obeying His words—these are the three ways. You see, these three ways are only a few words in total. Outwardly, they seem quite easy to achieve, but if the position you assume is wrong, and your attitude is wrong, they are very difficult to achieve. You see, they are easy to understand literally, but not easy to achieve. Tell Me, if people cannot achieve being open and honest, showing respect, and obeying the words of God incarnate, can they achieve this with the God in heaven? (No.) Why not? (Because if people do not have true knowledge of God, they will treat God based on their notions and imaginings.) This is determined by people’s essence and corrupt dispositions. It has nothing to do with how you internally restrain yourself or what kind of wishes you have; if your corrupt dispositions are not resolved, it will be very difficult to treat God in these three ways. If you resolve some of your corrupt dispositions, and you also have a basic understanding and knowledge of God, you will be able to achieve some of this, and will be able to assume your proper position as a created being, and treat Him from this position. To achieve these three points, for one thing, you must resolve some corrupt dispositions and have your rationality somewhat restored; and for another, you must have some knowledge of God. It will not do to not know God, right? (Yes.) This is the case in how you treat God incarnate, and of course, it is also the case in how you treat the God in heaven. If you cannot achieve these three points in how you treat God incarnate, then it goes without saying that you cannot achieve them in how you treat the God in heaven. You cannot see, hear, or grasp the work and words of the God in heaven; if you say you can submit to God, that is just empty talk. Look at early humankind: God told them to offer sacrifices, to offer a tenth of the annual crop harvest. People understood in their hearts that they must give what God asked for, but when it came time to offer it to God, they did not want to give it to Him. They even wanted to take it back after offering it, thinking, “You didn’t plant the crops, and You didn’t do any labor, so why should we give this to You?” When they offered it, they were unwilling, they felt uncomfortable inside, and they got angry. Was this showing respect? They could not achieve it, right? Therefore, it is not that simple to respect God and obey His words; if people’s corrupt dispositions are not resolved, they cannot achieve this. No matter what, to let go of your notions and imaginings about God incarnate, you must first have knowledge and understanding of the essence of God incarnate and the various truths involving God incarnate, and resolve your own notions and imaginings. Only then can you truly take in these aspects of the truth regarding God incarnate, and truly know God’s identity and essence; and only after that can you achieve submission to and fear of God.