Words of Almighty God of the Last Days

Throughout several thousand years of corruption, people have all grown numb and dull-witted; they have all become evil demons that oppose God, to the extent that their rebelliousness against God has been documented in historical records, and that even people themselves are incapable of giving a full account of their rebellious behavior—for they have been profoundly corrupted by Satan, and have been led astray by Satan such that they know not where to turn. Even today, people still betray God. When they see God, they betray Him, and when they cannot see God, so too do they betray Him. There are even those who, having witnessed God’s curses and God’s wrath, still betray Him. And so I say that man’s reason has lost its original function, and that man’s conscience, too, has lost its original function. In My eyes, people are all beasts in human attire and venomous snakes. No matter how pitiable they try to appear before My eyes, I will never be merciful toward them, for they have absolutely no grasp of the difference between black and white, and none of them understand the difference between truth and non-truth. Their reason is so benumbed, yet still they wish to gain blessings; their humanity is so ignoble, yet still they wish to reign as kings and hold power. Who could they be the kings of, with reason such as that? How could they with such humanity sit atop thrones? People are truly shameless! They are wretches who overestimate themselves! I suggest that you who wish to gain blessings first find a mirror and look at your own ugly reflection. Do you have what it takes to be a king? Do you have the facial features of one who could receive blessings? There has not been the slightest change in your disposition and you have not been able to put any of the truth into practice, yet still you wish for a wonderful tomorrow. This is sheer delusion! Man, who was born into such a filthy land, has been infected by society to a severe extent, he has been conditioned by feudal ethics, and he has received the education of “institutes of higher learning.” The backward thinking, corrupt morality, debased outlook on life, despicable philosophy for worldly dealings, utterly worthless existence, and base customs and day-to-day life—all of these things have been severely intruding upon man’s heart, and have been severely damaging and attacking his conscience. As a result, man grows ever more distant from God, and ever more opposed to Him. Man’s disposition becomes more ruthless by the day, and there is not a single person who willingly gives up anything for God, not a single person who willingly submits to God, and even less is there a single person who willingly seeks the appearance of God. Instead, man pursues pleasure to his heart’s content under the power of Satan, and corrupts his flesh in the mire with abandon. Even when they hear the truth, those who live in darkness have no desire to practice it, and they aren’t inclined to seek even when they see that God has already appeared. How could a depraved mankind like this have any room for salvation? How could a decadent mankind like this live in the light?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. To Remain Unchanged in Disposition Is to Be in Enmity to God

The root cause of man’s opposition and rebelliousness against God is his corruption by Satan. Because of Satan’s corruption, man’s conscience has grown numb, he is morally corrupt, his thoughts are degenerate, and he has a backward mental outlook. Before he was corrupted by Satan, man originally submitted to God and submitted to His words after hearing them. He was originally of sound reason and conscience, and of normal humanity. After man was corrupted by Satan, his original reason, conscience, and humanity all grew numb and were spoiled by Satan. Thus, he has lost his submission and love toward God. Man’s reason has become abnormal, his disposition has become the same as that of a beast, and his rebelliousness against God is ever increasing and growing more grievous. Yet man still neither knows nor understands this, and merely opposes and rebels persistently. The revelations of man’s disposition are the expressions of his reason, insight, and conscience. Because his reason and insight are unsound, and his conscience has grown supremely numb, his disposition is rebellious against God. If man’s reason and insight cannot change, then changes in his disposition are out of the question, as is aligning with God’s intentions. If man’s reason is unsound, then he cannot serve God and is unfit for use by God. “Normal reason” refers to submitting to and being loyal to God, to yearning for God, to being absolute toward God, and to having a conscience toward God. It refers to being of one heart and mind toward God, and not deliberately opposing God. Having an abnormal reason is not like this. Since man was corrupted by Satan, he has come up with notions about God, and he has had no loyalty to God or yearning for Him, to say nothing of a conscience toward God. Man deliberately opposes God and passes judgments on Him, and, furthermore, hurls invective at Him behind His back. Man passes judgment on God behind His back, knowing full well that He is God; man has absolutely no intention of submitting to God, but merely keeps making demands and requests of Him. Such people—people who have abnormal reason—are incapable of knowing their own despicable behavior or of regretting their acts of rebellion. If people are capable of knowing themselves, then they have regained a little of their reason; the more that people are rebellious against God and yet do not know themselves, the less sound of reason they are.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. To Remain Unchanged in Disposition Is to Be in Enmity to God

The resisters of God of which I speak refer to those who do not know God, those who acknowledge God with their lips and yet do not know Him, those who follow God and yet do not submit to Him, and those who enjoy the grace of God and yet are unable to stand firm in their witness to Him. Without an understanding of the purpose of God’s work or an understanding of the work that God does in man, man cannot be in accord with the intentions of God, nor can he stand firm in his witness to God. The reason why man resists God stems, on the one hand, from his corrupt disposition, and on the other hand, from ignorance of God and lack of understanding of the principles by which God works and of His intentions for man. These two aspects, taken together, constitute a history of man’s resistance to God. Novices in the faith resist God because such resistance lies within their nature, while the resistance to God of those with many years in the faith results from their ignorance of Him, in addition to their corrupt disposition. In the time before God became flesh, the measure of whether a person resisted God was based on whether they kept the decrees set forth by God in heaven. For instance, in the Age of Law, whoever did not keep the laws of Jehovah was regarded as one who resisted God; whoever stole the offerings to Jehovah, or whoever resisted those whom Jehovah looked upon with favor, was regarded as one who resisted God and would be stoned to death; whoever did not respect their father and mother, and whoever struck or cursed another, was regarded as one who did not keep the laws. And all who did not keep the laws of Jehovah were regarded as the ones who resisted Him. This was no longer so in the Age of Grace, when whoever resisted Jesus was regarded as one who resisted God, and whoever did not submit to the words uttered by Jesus was regarded as one who resisted God. At this time, the way in which resistance to God was defined became both more accurate and more practical. In the time when God had not yet become flesh, the measure of whether man resisted God was based on whether man worshiped and looked up to the invisible God in heaven. The way in which resistance to God was defined at that time was not all that practical, for man could not see God, nor did he know just what the image of God was like, or just how He worked and spoke. Man had no notions about God whatsoever, and he believed in God vaguely, because God had not yet appeared to man. Therefore, no matter how man believed in God in his imagination, God did not condemn man or make overly high demands of him, because man was completely unable to see God. When God becomes flesh and comes to work among men, all behold Him and hear His words, and all see the deeds of God in the flesh. At that moment, all man’s notions become foam. As for those who have seen God appearing in the flesh, they shall not be condemned if they intentionally submit to Him, whereas those who purposefully resist Him shall be deemed resisters of God. Such people are antichrists, enemies who willfully resist God. Those who harbor notions regarding God but are still ready and willing to submit to Him will not be condemned. God condemns man on the basis of man’s intentions and actions, never for his thoughts and ideas. If He were to condemn man on the basis of his thoughts and ideas, then not a single person would be able to escape from the wrathful hands of God. Those who willfully resist the incarnate God shall be punished for their defiance. With regard to these people that willfully resist God, their resistance stems from the fact that they harbor notions about God, which leads them in turn into actions that disturb God’s work. These people intentionally resist and demolish the work of God. They do not merely have notions about God, but they also engage in activities that disturb His work, and for this reason people of this kind shall be condemned. Those who do not willfully disturb God’s work shall not be condemned as sinners, because they are able to intentionally submit and not engage in activities that cause disruption and disturbance. People like this shall not be condemned. However, when people have experienced God’s work for many years, if they continue to harbor notions about God and remain unable to know the work of the incarnate God, and if, no matter how many years they have experienced His work, they continue to be filled with notions about God and are still unable to come to know Him, then even if they do not engage in disturbing activities, their hearts are nevertheless filled with many notions about God, and even if these notions do not become apparent, people like this are of no help whatsoever to the work of God. They are unable to preach the gospel for God or stand firm in their witness to Him. People like this are good-for-nothings and imbeciles. Because they do not know God and are moreover wholly incapable of casting away their notions about Him, they are therefore condemned. It can be said like this: It is normal for novices in the faith to hold notions about God or to know nothing of Him, but for one who has believed in God for many years and experienced a good deal of His work, it would not be normal for such a person to continue to hold notions, and it would be even less normal for someone like this to have no knowledge of God. It is because this is not a normal state that they are condemned. These abnormal people are all garbage; they are the ones who resist God the most and who have enjoyed the grace of God for nothing. All such people shall be eliminated in the end!

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. All People Who Do Not Know God Are People Who Resist God

Know that you oppose God’s work, or use your own notions to measure the work of today, because you do not know the principles of God’s work, and because of your rash treatment of the work of the Holy Spirit. Your opposition to God and obstruction of the work of the Holy Spirit is caused by your notions and inherent arrogance. It is not because God’s work is wrong, but because you are naturally too rebellious. After finding their belief in God, some people cannot even say with certainty where man came from, yet they dare to make public speeches appraising the rights and wrongs of the Holy Spirit’s work. They even lecture the apostles who have the Holy Spirit’s new work, passing comment and speaking out of turn; their humanity is too low, and there is not the slightest reason in them. Will the day not come when such people are spurned by the work of the Holy Spirit, and burned by the fires of hell? They do not know the work of God, but instead judge His work, and also try to instruct God how to work. How can such people who are devoid of reason know God? Man comes to know God during the process of seeking and experiencing; knowledge of God is not gained through the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit in the course of man making arbitrary judgments. The more accurate people’s knowledge of God becomes, the less they oppose Him. In contrast, the less people know of God, the more likely they are to oppose Him. Your notions, your old nature, and your humanity, character and moral outlook are the capital with which you resist God, and the more corrupted your morals, odious your qualities, and low your humanity, the more you are the enemy of God. Those who are possessed of strong notions and who have a self-righteous disposition are even more in enmity of God incarnate; such people are the antichrists. If your notions are not rectified, then they will always be against God; you will never be compatible with God, and will always be apart from Him.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Knowing the Three Stages of God’s Work Is the Path to Knowing God

Anyone who does not understand the purpose of God’s work is one who resists Him, and one who has come to understand the purpose of God’s work but still does not seek to satisfy God is even more to be deemed a resister of God. There are those who read the Bible in grand churches and recite it all day long, yet not one among them understands the purpose of God’s work. Not one among them is able to know God; still less can any one among them accord with God’s intentions. They are all worthless, vile people, each standing on high to lecture “God.” They are people who carry God’s banner yet deliberately resist God, who carry the label of believing in God while eating the flesh and drinking the blood of man. All such people are evil devils that devour the soul of man, head demons that deliberately disturb people’s embarkation onto the right path, and stumbling blocks impeding people’s seeking of God. They may appear of “sound constitution,” but how are their followers to know that they are none other than antichrists who lead people to resist God? How are their followers to know that they are living devils dedicated to the devouring of human souls? Those who hold themselves in high esteem in God’s presence are the most abject of men, while those who think themselves lowly are the most honored. And those who think they know the work of God and who are, moreover, capable of proclaiming the work of God to others with great fanfare as they look directly at Him—these are the most ignorant of men. Such people are all without testimony to God, they are all arrogant and conceited. Those who believe that they have too little knowledge of God, despite having practical experience and practical knowledge of Him, are those most beloved by Him. Only such people truly have testimony and are truly capable of being perfected by God. Those who do not understand the intentions of God are resisters of God; those who understand the intentions of God and yet do not practice the truth are resisters of God; those who eat and drink the words of God, and yet go against the essence of God’s words, are resisters of God; those who have notions about the incarnate God, and moreover deliberately engage in rebellion, are resisters of God; those who pass judgment on God are resisters of God; and whoever is unable to know God or to bear witness to Him is a resister of God. So I urge you: If you really have faith that you can walk this path, then keep on following it. But if you are unable to refrain from resisting God, then you had best walk away before it is too late. Otherwise, the chances of things turning out badly for you run extremely high, because your nature is simply too corrupt. Of loyalty or submission, or a heart that thirsts for righteousness and truth, or love for God, you have not one jot or iota. It may be said that your situation before God is an utter shambles. You cannot abide by what you ought to abide by, and are unable to say what ought to be said. What you ought to put into practice, you have failed to put into practice; and the function that you ought to fulfill, you have been unable to fulfill. You do not have the loyalty, conscience, submission, or resolution that you ought. You have not endured the suffering that it behooves you to endure, and you do not have the faith that you ought. Quite simply, you are completely devoid of any merit: Are you not ashamed to go on living? Let Me persuade you that you would be better off closing your eyes in eternal rest, thereby sparing God from worrying on your account and suffering for your sake. You believe in God and yet do not know His intentions; you eat and drink the words of God and yet are unable to keep to what God demands of man. You believe in God and yet do not know Him, and you stay alive without a goal to strive for, without any values, without any meaning. You live as a human being and yet have no conscience, integrity, or credibility in the slightest degree—can you still call yourselves human beings? You believe in God and yet deceive Him; what is more, you take God’s money and eat up the offerings that are made to Him. And yet, in the end you still fail to show the slightest consideration for God’s feelings or the faintest conscience toward Him. Not even the most trivial of God’s demands can you meet. Can you still call yourselves human beings? Eating the food God provides you and breathing the oxygen He gives you, enjoying His grace, yet, in the end, you do not have the slightest knowledge of God. On the contrary, you have become good-for-nothings that resist God. Does that not make you a beast even lower than a dog? Among animals, are there any that are more malicious than you?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. All People Who Do Not Know God Are People Who Resist God

If you have believed in God for many years, and yet have never submitted to Him, and do not accept the entirety of His words, and instead ask that God submit to you and act according to your notions, then you are the most rebellious of all, you are a disbeliever. How could such people be able to submit to the work and words of God that do not conform to the notions of man? Most rebellious of all are those who intentionally defy and resist God. They are the enemies of God, the antichrists. Theirs is always an attitude of hostility toward the new work of God; they never have the slightest inclination to submit, nor have they ever gladly submitted or humbled themselves. They think themselves to be the most superior before others and never submit to anyone. Before God, they consider themselves the best at preaching the word, and the most skillful in working on others. Never do they discard the “treasures” in their possession, but treat them as family heirlooms for worship, for preaching about to others, and they use them to lecture those fools who idolize them. There are indeed a certain number of people like this in the church. It can be said that they are “a dynasty of indomitable heroes,” generation after generation sojourning in the house of God. They take preaching the word (doctrine) to be their highest duty. Year after year, generation after generation, they go about rigorously carrying out their “sacred and inviolable” duty. None dare touch them; not a single person dares openly reproach them. They become “kings” in the house of God, running rampant as they tyrannize others from age to age. This pack of evil demons seeks to join hands and demolish My work; how can I allow these living devils to exist before My eyes? Even those who are only half submissive cannot carry on until the end, much less these tyrants without the slightest submission in their hearts! The work of God is not easily gained by man. Even using all the strength they have, people can only gain a mere portion of it, ultimately allowing them to be made perfect. What, then, of the children of the archangel, who seek to destroy the work of God? Do they not have even less hope of being gained by God? My purpose in doing the work of conquest is not solely to conquer for the sake of conquest, but to conquer so as to reveal righteousness and unrighteousness, to obtain proof for the punishment of man, to condemn the evil, and, furthermore, to conquer for the sake of perfecting those who willingly submit. In the end, all will be sorted according to their kind, and the ones who are perfected will be the ones whose thoughts and ideas are filled with submission. This is the work that shall ultimately be accomplished. Those whose every action is rebellious, meanwhile, will be punished and sent to burn in the fires, and be the objects of eternal curse. When that time comes, those “great and indomitable heroes” of ages past will become the basest and most shunned “weak and impotent cowards.” Only this can reveal every aspect of God’s righteousness, and His disposition that is unoffendable by man, and only this can appease the hatred in My heart. Do you not agree that this is entirely reasonable?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Those Who Submit to God With a True Heart Shall Surely Be Gained by God

All those who do not seek submission to God in their faith are people who oppose God. God asks that people seek the truth, that they thirst for His words, eat and drink His words, and put them into practice, all so that they may achieve submission to God. If that is your true intention, then God will surely exalt you, and will surely be gracious toward you. This is undoubtable and unchangeable. If your intention is not to submit to God, and you have other aims, then all that you say and do—even your prayers before God, and going even further, your every move—will be in opposition to Him. Even if your words are gentle and you are mild-mannered, even if your every move and expression seem proper to others, as if you were a submissive person, when it comes to your intentions and your views about faith in God, every one of your actions is in opposition to God, it is doing evil. People who appear as obedient as sheep, but whose hearts harbor evil intentions, are wolves in sheep’s clothing. They directly offend God, and God will not spare a single one of them. The Holy Spirit will reveal each and every one of them and show everybody that all those who are hypocrites will, with certainty, be spurned by the Holy Spirit. Worry not: God will reckon with and dispose of every last one of them in turn.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. In Your Faith in God You Should Submit to God

People have corrupt dispositions, and even if they have the resolve to submit to God, their submission is limited; it is relative, and it is also occasional, fleeting, and conditional. It is not absolute. With a corrupt disposition, their rebelliousness is particularly great. They acknowledge God but cannot submit to Him, and they are willing to listen to His words but cannot submit to them. They know that God is good, and they want to love Him but cannot. They cannot listen to God completely, cannot let Him orchestrate everything, and they still have their own choices, harbor their own intentions and motives, and have their own schemes, ideas, and their way of doing things. Having their own way of doing things, their own methods, means there is no way they can submit to God. They can only act according to their own ideas and rebel against God. This is how rebellious people are! So, man’s nature is not only simple corrupt dispositions like superficial self-righteousness, self-importance, and pride, or occasional lies and deceit toward God; instead, man’s essence has already become the essence of Satan. How did the archangel betray God back then? And what about people nowadays? To be frank, whether or not you can accept it, people nowadays are not only completely betraying God like Satan did, but are also directly hostile to God in their hearts, their thinking, and their ideologies. This is Satan’s corruption of humankind into devils; humans have truly become the spawn of Satan. Perhaps you will say: “We are not hostile to God. We listen to whatever God says.” That’s superficial; it seems as if you listen to whatever God says. In fact, when I am formally fellowshipping and speaking, most people do not have notions and are well-behaved and obedient, but when I am speaking and doing things in normal humanity, or living and acting in normal humanity, their notions arise. Despite wanting to make room for Me in their hearts, they cannot accommodate Me, and no matter how the truth is fellowshipped, they cannot let go of their notions. This shows that man can only submit to God relatively, not absolutely. You know He is God, and you know that God incarnate must have normal humanity, so why can you not submit to God absolutely? God become flesh is Christ, the Son of man; He has both divinity and normal humanity. Outwardly, He has normal humanity, but His divinity lives and works within this normal humanity. Now, God has become flesh as Christ, possessing divinity and humanity. Yet some people can only submit to some of His divine words and work, only taking His divine words and profound language as God’s words, while they disregard some of His words and work in normal humanity. Some people even have some ideas and notions in their hearts, believing that only His divine language is the word of God and that His human language is not. Can such people accept all of the truths that God expresses? Can they be purified and made perfect by God? They cannot, because such people comprehend in an absurd manner and cannot obtain the truth. In short, man’s inner world is extremely complex, and these rebellious matters are especially complicated—there is no need to elaborate on this.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three

People have an arrogant nature and essence, so they can often rebel against and resist God, not listen to His words, have notions about Him, do things that betray Him, and do things to exalt and bear testimony to themselves. You say you are not arrogant, but suppose that a church were entrusted to you to lead, and I did not prune you, and no one in God’s house criticized or helped you. After leading it for a while, you would have people at your feet, and you would make everyone obey you, even to the point that they would think highly of you and look up to you. How could this happen? It is determined by your nature; it is none other than a natural revelation. You do not have to purposefully learn this from others, nor do others have to intentionally teach it to you, or order or compel you to do this—this kind of situation comes about naturally. Everything you do is intended to make people exalt you, praise you, worship you, obey you, and listen to you in all things. When you are put in a leadership position, you naturally bring about this situation, and you couldn’t change this even if you wanted to. And how does this situation come about? It is determined by man’s arrogant nature. The manifestation of arrogance is rebellion and resistance against God. People are arrogant, conceited, and self-righteous, so they are capable of setting up their own independent kingdoms and doing things their own way. They are also capable of pulling people into their hold and drawing them into their orbit. The fact that people are so arrogant that they’re capable of setting up their own independent kingdoms proves that their nature essence is Satan, that it is the archangel. If people are arrogant and conceited to a certain point, they will not have God in their hearts, they will put God aside, and they will want to be God, and make everyone obey them. Then, they will have become just like the archangel. If you possess Satan’s arrogant nature, God will have no place in your heart. Even if you believe in God, God will not acknowledge you, and He will eliminate you as an evil person.

We have preached the gospel over and over to many leaders within religious world, but no matter how we fellowship on the truth with them, they do not accept it. Why is this? It is because their arrogance has become second nature, and God no longer has a place in their hearts. Some people might say, “People under the leadership of certain pastors in the religious world really have a lot of drive; it is as though they have God in their midst.” Do you take having enthusiasm for having drive? No matter how lofty those pastors’ theories might sound, do they know God? If they truly feared God deep down, would they make people follow them and exalt them? Would they be able to control others? Would they dare to prevent others from seeking the truth and investigating the true way? If they believe that God’s sheep are actually theirs, and that they should all listen to them, then is it not the case that they regard themselves as God? Such people are even worse than the Pharisees. Are they not genuine antichrists? Thus, their arrogance is fatal, and can lead them to do things of betrayal. Do such things not happen among you? Can you ensnare people this way? You could, it’s just that you have not been given the opportunity, and you are incessantly being pruned, so you would not dare. Some people also exalt themselves in roundabout ways, but they speak very cleverly, so ordinary people cannot discern it. Some people are so arrogant that they say: “It is unacceptable for someone else to lead this church! God needs to go through me to get here, and He can only preach to you after I’ve explained this church’s situation to Him. Aside from me, no one else can come here and water you.” What is the intent behind saying this? What kind of disposition does this reveal? It is arrogance. When people act like this, their conduct is resistant to and rebellious against God. So people’s arrogant nature determines that they will exalt themselves, rebel against and betray God, ensnare others, ruin others, and ruin themselves. If they die unrepentant, then they will be eliminated in the end. Is it not dangerous for a person to have an arrogant disposition? If they have an arrogant disposition, but they are able to accept the truth, then there is still room to save them. They must go through judgment and chastisement, and cast off their corrupt disposition, in order to attain true salvation.

Some people always say: “Why does God use judgment and chastisement to save people in the last days? Why are the words of judgment so severe?” There is a saying you might know: “God’s work varies with each individual; it is flexible, and He does not adhere to regulations.” The work of judgment and chastisement in the last days is primarily directed at people’s arrogant nature. Arrogance encompasses a lot of things, a lot of corrupt dispositions; judgment and chastisement come directly at this word, “arrogance,” in order to fully remove people’s arrogant disposition. In the end, people will not rebel against God nor resist Him, so they will not endeavor to set up their own independent kingdoms, nor will they exalt or testify of themselves, nor will they act vilely, nor will they have extravagant demands of God—in this way, they have cast off their arrogant disposition.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Man’s Arrogant Nature Is the Root of His Resistance to God

Though, on the surface, you believe in God and do your duty, the worldly and satanic thoughts, views, ways of interacting with people, and corrupt disposition within you have never been cleared out, and you are still filled with satanic things. You still live by those things, that is why you are still small in stature. You are still in a dangerous stage; you are not yet secure or safe. So long as you have a satanic disposition, you will continue to resist and betray God. To resolve this problem, you must first understand which things are evil and of Satan, how they are harmful, why Satan does these things, what kinds of poison people suffer when they accept them, and what those people will become, as well as what kind of person God asks people to be, what things are of normal humanity, what things are positive, and what things are negative. You will only have a path if you have discernment and are able to see these things clearly. Moreover, on the positive side, you must also perform your duty proactively while offering up your sincerity and devotion. Do not be slippery or slack off, do not approach your duty or that which God has entrusted to you from the perspective of nonbelievers or with the philosophies of Satan. You must eat and drink more of God’s words, seek to understand all aspects of the truth, and clearly understand the significance of performing a duty, and then practice and enter into all aspects of the truth while doing your duty, and gradually come to know God, His work, and His disposition. In this way, without you knowing it, your inner state will change, there will be more positive things within you, and fewer negative things, and your ability to discern things will become stronger than before. When you grow to this extent in stature, you will have discernment of all kinds of people, events, and things in this world, and you will be able to see through to the essence of problems. Were you to see a film of the nonbelieving world, you would be able to perceive what poisons people might suffer from after watching it, as well as what Satan intends to instill and plant in people through these means and trends, and what it intends to erode in people. You will gradually be able to see through to these things. You will not be poisoned after watching the film, and you will have discernment of it—that is when you will truly have stature.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Belief in God Must Begin With Seeing Through the Evil Trends of the World

Many people have always followed and believed in this way; they’ve behaved well during the time that they’ve followed God, but this does not determine what will happen in the future. This is because you are never aware of man’s Achilles’ heel, or the things that are within man’s nature that can come to oppose God, and before they lead you to disaster, you remain ignorant of these things. Because the issue of your nature opposing God goes unresolved, it sets you up for disaster, and it is possible that when your journey ends and God’s work finishes, you will do that which most opposes God and say that which is blasphemous against Him, and thus you will be condemned and eliminated. At the final moment, at the most perilous of times, Peter tried to escape. At the time, he did not understand God’s intention, and planned to survive and do the work of the churches. Later, Jesus appeared to him and said: “Would you have Me crucified for you once more?” Peter then understood God’s intention, and was quick to submit. Suppose that, at that moment, he had his own demands and said, “I don’t want to die now, I fear pain. Were You not crucified for our sake? Why do You ask that I be crucified? Can I be spared from crucifixion?” If he had made such demands, then the path he had walked would have been in vain. But Peter had always been a person who submitted to God and sought His intention, and, in the end, he understood God’s intention and submitted completely. If Peter had not sought God’s intention and had acted according to his own thinking, then he would have taken the wrong path. People lack the faculty to understand God’s intentions directly, but if they do not submit after understanding the truth, then they are betraying God.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. People Make Too Many Demands of God

People’s dispositions cannot be changed by people themselves; they must undergo the judgment and chastisement, and trials and refinement, of God’s words, or being pruned and disciplined by His words. Only then can they achieve submission and loyalty to God, and no longer be perfunctory toward Him. It is under the refinement of God’s words that people’s dispositions change. Only through the exposure, judgment, discipline, and pruning of His words will they no longer dare to act rashly but instead will become steady and composed. The most important point is that they will be able to submit to God’s current words, and to His work. Even if it is not in line with human notions, they will be able to let go of these notions and intentionally submit.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. People Whose Dispositions Have Changed Are Those Who Have Entered Into the Reality of God’s Words

It is through judgment and chastisement by the word that man comes to be gained by God, and it is through refinement, judgment, and exposure by the word that all of the impurities, notions, motives, and personal hopes within man’s heart are completely revealed. … For instance, when people learned that they were descended from Moab, they complained, ceased to pursue life, and became utterly negative. Does this not show that man is still unable to fully submit under the dominion of God? Is this not precisely man’s satanic corrupt dispositions? When you were not being subjected to chastisement, you raised your hand higher than all others, even than Jesus. And you cried out in a loud voice: “Be a beloved son of God! Be an intimate of God! We would rather die than bow down to Satan! Rebel against the old Satan! Rebel against the great red dragon! May the great red dragon fall from power once and for all! May God make us complete!” You cried out louder than all others. But then came the time of chastisement and, once again, your corrupt dispositions were revealed. Your cries ceased, and you lost your resolve. This is the corruption of man; it is something that runs deeper than sin, something planted by Satan and deeply rooted within man. It is not easy for man to become aware of his sins, and he has no way of recognizing his own deeply rooted nature. It is only through the judgment of the word that this result can be achieved. Only thus can man gradually be changed from this point onward.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)

Changing man’s disposition should start with knowledge of his essence and through changes in his thinking, nature, and mental outlook—through fundamental changes. Only in this way will true changes be achieved in the disposition of man. The root cause of corrupt dispositions arising in man is Satan’s misleading, corruption, and poisoning. Man has been bound and controlled by Satan, and he suffers greatly from the damage that Satan has inflicted upon his thinking, morality, insight, and reason. It is precisely because the fundamental things of man have been corrupted by Satan, and are utterly unlike how God originally created them, that man opposes God and cannot accept the truth. Thus, for there to be changes in man’s disposition, what should first be done is to change his knowledge of God and his knowledge of the truth in terms of his thinking, insight, and reason.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. To Remain Unchanged in Disposition Is to Be in Enmity to God

If you want to pursue a change in your disposition, you must know your nature. “A leopard can’t change its spots.” Do not assume that nature can be changed. If a person’s nature is too bad, then they will never change, and God will not save them. What does a transformation in disposition refer to? It refers to when a person who loves the truth accepts the judgment and chastisement of God’s words and undergoes all manner of suffering and refinement while experiencing God’s work, and is cleansed of the satanic poisons within them, completely casts off their corrupt dispositions, and is able to submit to God’s words and all of His orchestrations and arrangements, and never rebels or resists again. This is a transformation in disposition. If a person’s nature is very bad, and if they are an evil person, then God will not save them, and the Holy Spirit will not work within them. Put another way, it is like a doctor curing a patient: A person who has an inflammation can be treated, but a person who develops cancer cannot be saved. A transformation in disposition means that a person, because they love and can accept the truth, finally comes to know their nature, which is rebellious to God and in opposition to God. They understand that humans are corrupted too deeply, they understand humankind’s absurdness and deceitfulness, and humankind’s impoverished and pitiful state, and they finally come to understand humankind’s nature essence. Knowing all this, they become able to deny and rebel against themselves completely, live by God’s word, and practice the truth in all things. This is someone who knows God, and someone whose disposition has transformed.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. How to Know Man’s Nature

When you reveal your corrupt disposition, when you have thoughts and ideas that defy God, when you have states and viewpoints that contend with God, when you have states whereby you misunderstand God, or resist and oppose Him, God will rebuke you, judge you, and chastise you, and He will sometimes even discipline you and punish you. What is the aim of disciplining and rebuking you? (To have us repent and change.) Yes, it is meant to have you repent. What is achieved by disciplining and rebuking you is that it allows you to turn your course around. It is to make you understand that your thoughts are the notions of man, and that they are wrong; your motivations are born of Satan, they originate from human will, they are not in line with the truth, they are incompatible with God, they cannot satisfy God’s intentions, they are detestable and hateful to God, they incite His wrath, and even arouse His curse. After realizing this, you have to change your motivations and attitude. And how are they changed? First of all, you must submit to the way God treats you, and submit to the environments and people, events, and things that He sets up for you. Do not pick holes, do not give objective excuses, and do not shirk your responsibilities. Secondly, seek the truth that people should practice and enter into when God does what He does. God asks that you understand these things. He wants you to recognize your corrupt dispositions and satanic essence, for you to be able to submit to the environments He arranges for you and, ultimately, for you to be able to practice in accordance with His intentions and His requirements for you. Then you will have passed the test. Once you stop resisting and opposing God, you will then no longer argue with God and will be able to submit. When God says, “Get you behind Me, Satan,” you reply, “If God says I am a Satan, I am a Satan. Though I don’t understand what I’ve done wrong, or why God says I am a Satan, He orders me to get behind Him, so I shall not hesitate. I must seek the desires of God.” When God says the nature of your actions is satanic, you say, “I recognize whatever God says, I accept it all.” What attitude is this? This is submission. Is it submission when you are able to reluctantly accept God saying you are a devil and a Satan, but cannot accept it—and are incapable of submitting—when He says you are a beast? Submission means total compliance and acceptance, not arguing or setting terms. It means not analyzing cause and effect, regardless of objective reasons, and only concerning yourself with acceptance. When people have attained submission such as this, they are close to genuine faith in God. The more God acts and the more you experience, the more real God’s sovereignty over all things becomes to you, the greater your trust in God will become and the more you will feel, “Everything God does is good, none of it is bad. I must not pick and choose, but should submit. My responsibility, my obligation, my duty—it is to submit. This is what I should do as a created being. If I can’t even submit to God, then what am I? I am a beast, I am a devil!” Does this not show that you now have genuine faith? Once you have gotten to this point, you will be without taint, and so it will be easy for God to use you, and it will also be easy for you to submit to the orchestrations of God. When you have God’s approval, you will be able to gain His blessings.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Only With True Submission Can One Have Real Trust

Though it is not easy to change people’s nature, if they can discern and see through to the corrupt dispositions they reveal, and if they can seek the truth to resolve them, then they can gradually change their dispositions. Once a person has achieved a change in their life disposition, then there will be fewer and fewer things in them that resist God. The purpose of dissecting man’s nature is to change his dispositions. You haven’t grasped this aim, and think that just by dissecting and understanding your nature you can submit to God and restore your reason. All you do is just blindly apply regulations! Why is it that I do not simply expose people’s arrogance and self-righteousness? Why must I also dissect their corrupt nature? It won’t solve the problem if I only expose their self-righteousness and arrogance. But if I dissect their nature, the aspects that this covers are very broad, and it includes all corrupt dispositions. It is more than just the narrow range of self-righteousness, self-importance, and arrogance. Nature includes much more than this. So, it would be good if people could recognize just how many corrupt dispositions they are revealing in all their various demands of God, that is, in their extravagant desires. Once people understand their own nature essence, they can then hate and deny themselves; it will be easy for them to resolve their corrupt dispositions, and they will have a path. Otherwise, you will never dig out the root cause, and will only say that this is self-righteousness, arrogance, or pride, or having no devotion at all. Can only talking about such superficial things solve your problem? Is there any need to discuss man’s nature? In the beginning, what was the nature of Adam and Eve? There was no intentional resistance within them, much less open betrayal. They didn’t know what it meant to resist God, much less what it meant to submit to Him. Whatever Satan disseminated, they accepted into their hearts. Now Satan has corrupted mankind to such an extent that people can rebel against and resist God in all things, and can think up all sorts of ways to oppose Him. It’s evident that man’s nature is the same as Satan’s. Why do I say that man’s nature is the nature of Satan? Satan is that which resists God, and because people have satanic natures, they are of Satan. While people may not intentionally do things to resist God, because of their satanic nature, all of their thoughts are resistant toward God. Even if people do nothing at all, they are still resisting God, because man’s internal essence has changed into something which resists God. Present man, therefore, is different from newly created man. There was no resistance or betrayal within people before, they were full of life, and not governed by any satanic nature. If there is no domination or disturbance of a satanic nature within people, then no matter what they do, it cannot be considered resisting God.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. People Make Too Many Demands of God

If a person’s knowledge of themselves is too shallow, this won’t resolve any problems at all, and their life dispositions absolutely will not change. You must know yourself to a profound degree. This means knowing your nature, and knowing what elements it contains, from where these things originate, and where they come from. Moreover, are you actually able to hate these things? Have you seen your own ugly soul and your wicked nature? If you truly see the truth about yourself, you will hate yourself. When you hate yourself and then try to put God’s words into practice, you will be able to rebel against the flesh and gain the strength to practice the truth, and it will no longer feel like a struggle. Why do many people act according to their fleshly preferences? Because they consider themselves to be pretty good, and feel that their actions are quite fitting and justified, without any faults, and even completely correct, and so they act with self-assurance. When they truly know just what their nature is—how ugly, despicable, and pitiful it is—they will stop thinking so highly of themselves and being so arrogant, and they will no longer feel so pleased with themselves. They’ll think, “I must practice some of God’s words with my feet planted firmly on the ground. If not, I won’t measure up to the standard of being human, and will be ashamed to live in God’s presence.” They will truly see themselves as small and truly insignificant. At this point, it will become easy for them to practice the truth, and they will appear somewhat like a human should. Only when a person truly hates themselves are they able to rebel against the flesh. If they do not hate themselves, they will be unable to rebel against the flesh. Truly hating oneself is no simple matter. To do so, there are several things a person must possess. First, a person must possess knowledge of their nature. Secondly, they must see that they’re poor and pitiful, that they’re extremely small and insignificant, and they must see their pitiful, dirty soul. When they come to fully see what they truly are—when this result is achieved—they truly gain knowledge of themselves, and it can be said that their knowledge of themselves is spot on. Only at this point can they hate themselves, even curse themselves, truly feeling that people have been corrupted profoundly by Satan such that they’re devoid of any human likeness. One day, if they truly face the threat of dying, they will think, “This is God’s righteous punishment. God is indeed righteous. I deserve to die!” At this point, they will not voice their grievances, much less complain about God—they will simply feel that they are utterly poor, pitiful, filthy, and corrupt, and that they should be eliminated and destroyed by God, and they will feel that a soul such as theirs is unfit to live on earth. Therefore, they will not complain about or resist God, much less betray Him.

—The Word, Vol. 3. The Discourses of Christ of the Last Days. Part Three

I exhort you to make a real effort to understand the content of the administrative decrees, and to endeavor to know the disposition of God. Otherwise, you will find it difficult to keep your lips sealed, your tongues will wag too freely, and you will spout high-sounding talk, unwittingly offending the disposition of God and falling into the darkness, losing the presence of the Holy Spirit and the light. Because you are unprincipled in your actions, doing and saying that which you should not, you shall receive the retribution you deserve. You should know that though you are unprincipled in word and deed, God is highly principled in both. The reason you receive retribution is because you have offended God, not a person. If, in your life, you commit many offenses against the disposition of God, then you are bound to become a child of hell. To man it may appear that you have only committed a few deeds that are at odds with the truth, and nothing more. Are you aware, however, that in the eyes of God you are already someone for whom there is no more sin offering? Because you have violated the administrative decrees of God more than once and have, moreover, shown no sign of repentance or turning back, there is no other recourse but for you to be plunged into hell, where God punishes man. A small number of people, while following God, committed some deeds that violated principles, but after being pruned and given guidance, they gradually discovered their own corruption, thereafter entered on the right track of reality, and they remain well-grounded today. Such people are those who shall remain in the end. Nevertheless, it is the honest that I want; if you are an honest person and someone who acts according to principle, then you can be a confidant of God. If in your actions you do not offend the disposition of God, and seek the desires of God, and have a God-fearing heart, then your faith is up to the standard. Whoever does not fear God and does not have a heart that trembles in horror is highly likely to violate the administrative decrees of God. Many serve God on the strength of their passion but have no understanding of the administrative decrees of God, still less any inkling of the implications of His words. And so, with their good intentions, they often wind up doing things that disturb God’s management. In serious cases, they are expelled from God’s house, deprived of any further chance of following Him, and are cast into hell, all association with God’s house at an end. These people do the work of God’s house on the strength of their ignorant good intentions, and end by angering God’s disposition. People bring their ways of serving officials and lords to the house of God and try to put them into play, vainly thinking that they can be applied with effortless ease here. Never do they imagine that God has not the disposition of a lamb, but that of a lion. Therefore, those associating with God for the first time are unable to communicate with Him, for the heart of God is unlike that of man. Only after you understand many truths can you continuously come to know God. This knowledge is not made up of words and doctrines but can be used as a treasure by means of which you enter into close confidence with God, and as proof that He delights in you. If you lack the reality of knowledge and are not equipped with the truth, then your passionate service can only bring upon you the disgust and abhorrence of God.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Three Admonitions

Related Hymns

Those Who Do Not Know God Oppose God