Words of Almighty God of the Last Days

In measuring whether or not people can obey God, the key is whether or not they have any extravagant desires or ulterior motives toward Him. If people are always making demands of God, it proves that they are not obedient to Him. No matter what happens to you, if you do not accept it from God, and you do not seek the truth, and you are always arguing for yourself and always feeling that only you are right, and if you are even capable of doubting that God is the truth and righteousness, then you will be in trouble. Such people are the most arrogant and rebellious to God. People who always make demands of God cannot truly obey Him. If you make demands of God, this proves that you are trying to make a deal with God, that you are choosing your own will, and acting according to it. In this, you are betraying God, and you lack obedience. To make demands of God is in and of itself lacking in sense; if you truly believe that He is God, then you will not dare to make demands of Him, nor will you feel qualified to make demands of Him, whether you think them reasonable or not. If you have true belief in God, and believe that He is God, then you will only worship and obey Him, there is no other choice. People today not only make their own choices, they even ask God to act according to their own will. Not only do they not choose to obey God, they even ask God to obey them. Isn’t this so lacking in reason? Therefore, if there is no true faith within a person, and no substantial belief, they can never obtain God’s praise. When people are able to make fewer demands of God, they have more true faith and obedience, and their sense of reason is comparatively normal. It is often the case that the more inclined to argue people are, and the more justifications they have, the harder they are to deal with. Not only do they have many demands, but if you give them an inch, they’ll want a mile. When they are satisfied in one respect, they’ll then make demands in another. They have to be satisfied in all respects, and if they are not, they start complaining, and write things off as hopeless and act recklessly. Afterward, they feel indebted and remorseful, and they weep bitter tears, and want to die. What is the use in that? Are they not being unreasonable and relentlessly vexatious? This series of problems has to be resolved from the root.

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

Nothing is more difficult to handle than people constantly making demands of God. As soon as God’s actions do not correspond with your thinking, or haven’t been carried out in accordance with your thinking, then you are likely to resist—which is sufficient to show that, in nature, you are resistant to God. Recognition of this problem can only be achieved by frequently reflecting on yourself and reaching an understanding of the truth, and it can only be fully resolved by pursuing the truth. When people do not understand the truth, they make many demands of God, whereas when they truly understand the truth, they make none; they feel only that they have not satisfied God enough, that they do not obey God enough. That people always make demands of God reflects their corrupt nature. If you cannot know yourself and truly repent concerning this matter, then you will face hidden dangers and peril on your path of belief in God. You are able to overcome ordinary things, but when important matters such as your fate, prospects, and destination are involved, you will perhaps be unable to overcome them. At that time, if you still lack the truth, you may well fall back upon your old ways, and will thus become one of those who are destroyed. 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 cast out. At the final moment, at the most perilous of times, Peter tried to escape. At the time, he did not understand God’s will, 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 will, and was quick to obey. 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 obeyed God and sought His will, and, in the end, he understood God’s will and submitted completely. If Peter had not sought God’s will and had acted according to his own thinking, then he would have taken the wrong path. People lack the faculties to understand God’s will directly, but if they do not obey after understanding the truth, then they are betraying God. That is to say, people always making demands of God relates to their nature: The more demands they have, the more rebellious and resistant they are, and the more notions they have. The more demands someone makes of God, the more likely it is that they will rebel against, resist, and even oppose Him. Perhaps one day they could betray and leave God. If you want to solve this problem, you need to understand several aspects of the truth, and also have some practical experience in order to understand it thoroughly and completely resolve it.

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

What is the problem with people always making demands of God? And what is the problem with them always having notions about God? What is contained within man’s nature? I’ve discovered that, regardless of what happens to them, or what they’re dealing with, people always protect their own interests and worry about their own flesh, and they always look for reasons or excuses that serve them. They don’t seek or accept the truth in the slightest, and everything they do is in order to defend their own flesh and plotting for the sake of their own prospects. They all solicit grace from God, wanting to gain whatever advantages they can. Why do people make so many demands of God? This proves that people are greedy by nature, and that before God, they are not possessed of any sense at all. In everything people do—whether they are praying or fellowshiping or preaching—their pursuits, thoughts, and aspirations, these things are all demands of God and attempts to solicit things from Him, they are all done by people in the hope of gaining something from God. Some people say that “this is human nature,” which is correct! In addition, people making too many demands of God and having too many extravagant desires proves that people are truly lacking in conscience and sense. They are all demanding and soliciting things for their own sakes, or trying to argue and find excuses for themselves—they do all of this for themselves. In many things, it can be seen that what people do is totally devoid of sense, which is full proof that the satanic logic of “Every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost” has already become man’s nature. What problem is illustrated by people making too many demands of God? It illustrates that people have been corrupted by Satan to a certain point, and that in their belief in God, they don’t treat Him as God at all. Some people say: “If we didn’t treat God like God, then why would we still believe in Him? If we didn’t treat Him like God, could we have kept following Him until now? Could we have endured all this suffering?” On the surface, you believe in God, and you are able to follow Him, yet in your attitude toward Him, and in your views on many things, you don’t treat God like the Creator at all. If you treat God like God, if you treat God as the Creator, then you should stand in your position as a created being, and it would be impossible for you to make any more demands of God, or have any extravagant desires. Instead, in your heart, you would be capable of true submission, and you would be fully capable of believing in God in accordance with His requirements, and of obeying all of His work.

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

In their faith, people seek to make God give them a suitable destination and all the grace they need, to make Him their servant, to have Him maintain a peaceful, friendly relationship with them so that, no matter when, there would never be any conflict between them. That is, their belief in God demands that He promise to meet all their requirements and to bestow upon them whatever they pray for, in keeping with the words they have read in the Bible, “I will listen to all your prayers.” They expect God not to judge or deal with anyone, for He has always been the merciful Savior Jesus who keeps a good relationship with people at all times and in all places. Here is how people believe in God: They just shamelessly make demands of God, believing that whether they are rebellious or obedient, He would just grant everything to them blindly. They just continually “collect debts” from God, believing He must “repay” them without any resistance and, moreover, pay double; they think, whether God has gotten anything from them or not, He can only be manipulated by them, and He cannot arbitrarily orchestrate people, much less reveal to people His wisdom and righteous disposition, which have been hidden for many years, whenever He wants and without their permission. They simply confess their sins to God, believing God would just absolve them, that He would not get sick of doing so, and that this will go on forever. They just order God about, believing He would just obey them, because it is recorded in the Bible that God did not come to be served by humans, but to serve them, and that He is here to be their servant. Have you not always believed in this way? Whenever you are unable to gain something from God, you wish to run away; when you do not understand something, you grow so resentful, and even go so far as to hurl all kinds of abuse at Him. You simply will not allow God Himself to fully express His wisdom and wonder; instead, you just want to enjoy temporary ease and comfort. Until now, your attitude in your belief in God has merely consisted of the same old views. If God shows you just a slight bit of majesty, you become unhappy. Do you see now exactly how great your stature is? Do not assume that you are all loyal to God when in fact your old views have not changed. When nothing befalls you, you believe that everything is going smoothly, and your love for God reaches a high point. When something minor happens to you, you fall down into Hades. Is this being loyal to God?

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Should Put Aside the Blessings of Status and Understand God’s Will to Bring Salvation to Man

People have such poor reason—they have too many demands of God and they ask too much of Him, they lack even the slightest bit of reason. People are always demanding that God do this or that and are unable to completely submit to Him or worship Him. Instead, they make unreasonable demands of God based upon their own preferences, demanding that He be very magnanimous, that He never be angered by anything, and that whenever He sees people, He should always be smiling and should always talk to them, and supply them with the truth and fellowship on the truth with them. They also demand that He always be patient and that He keeps a pleasant expression around them. People have too many requirements; they are too finicky! You should reflect on these matters. Human reason is so poor, is it not? Not only are people not able to completely submit to God’s orchestrations and arrangements or accept all that comes from God, on the contrary, they impose additional requirements upon God. How can people with such requirements be loyal to God? How can they submit to the arrangements of God? How can they love God? People all have requirements for how God should love them, tolerate them, watch over them, protect them, and care for them, yet none of them have any requirements for how they themselves should love God, think of God, be considerate toward God, satisfy God, have God in their hearts, and worship God. Do these things exist in people’s hearts? These are things that people should accomplish, so why do they not press forward diligently in these things? Some people can be enthusiastic for a time and can somewhat forsake things and expend of themselves, but it is not lasting; running into a little setback can cause them to become discouraged, lose hope, and complain. People have so many difficulties, and there are too few people who pursue the truth and seek to love and satisfy God. Humans are utterly lacking in reason, they stand in the wrong position, and see themselves as especially valuable. There are also those who say: “God sees us as the apples of His eye. He did not hesitate to allow His only Son to be nailed to the cross in order to redeem mankind. God paid a heavy price to buy us back—we are incredibly valuable and all hold a place in God’s heart. We are a special group of people and have a much higher status than unbelievers—we are people of the kingdom of heaven.” They think themselves to be quite lofty and grand. In the past, many leaders had this mentality, believing that they had a certain status and position in God’s house after being promoted. They thought, “God holds me in high regard and thinks well of me, and He has allowed me to serve as a leader. I must do my best running around and working for Him.” They were terribly pleased with themselves. However, after a period of time, they did something bad and their true colors were shown, and then they were replaced, and they became dejected and hung their heads. When their unseemly behavior was exposed and dealt with, they became even more negative, and were unable to continue believing. They thought to themselves, “God is being so inconsiderate of my feelings, He doesn’t care about saving my pride at all. They say God is sympathetic to man’s weaknesses, so why was I dismissed after some small transgressions?” They then became discouraged and wanted to abandon their faith. Do such people have true faith in God? If they cannot even accept being dealt with and pruned, then their stature is too small, and it is uncertain whether they will be able to accept the truth in the future. Such people are in danger.

People do not make high demands of themselves, but they make high demands of God. They ask Him to show them special kindness, and to be patient and accommodating toward them, cherish them, provide for them, and smile at them, be tolerant toward them, make allowances for them, and take care of them in many ways. They expect Him not to be strict with them at all or do anything that would upset them even slightly, and they are only satisfied if He sweet-talks them every single day. Humans have such poor reason! They are not clear on what they should do, what they should accomplish, what viewpoints they should have, what position they should stand in to serve God, and what position is suitable to place themselves in. People with a little bit of status have a very high opinion of themselves, and those without status also think quite highly of themselves. Humans never know themselves. You must come to a point in your belief in God where, regardless of how He speaks to you, how strict He is with you, and how much He might ignore you, you can keep on believing without complaint and continue to fulfill your duty as usual. You will then be a mature and experienced person, and you will truly have some stature and a bit of the reason of a normal person. You will not make demands of God, you will no longer have extravagant desires, and you will no longer make requests of others or of God based on your own preferences. This will show that, to a certain extent, you possess the likeness of a human. Currently, you have too many requirements, these requirements are far too excessive, and you have too many human intentions. This proves that you are not standing in the correct position; the position you are standing in is too high, and you have viewed yourself as too honorable—as though you are not much lower in position than God. You are therefore difficult to deal with, and this is precisely the nature of Satan.

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

Always making demands of God is a part of man’s nature, and you must analyze this nature according to God’s word. How should you analyze it? The first step is to be clear about which unreasonable demands, and which extravagant desires people have with regard to God, and you should analyze each and every one of them: Why do people make that demand? What is their motive? What is their aim? The more you conscientiously analyze it in this way, the more understanding you’ll have of your own nature, and the more detailed that understanding will become. If you do not analyze it in detail, but just know that people shouldn’t make demands of God, only understanding that making demands of God is unreasonable, and that’s it, then ultimately you will make no progress, and you will not change. Some people say: “We have so many demands of God because we’re too selfish. What should we do?” Naturally, people must understand the truth and know the essence of selfishness. When you truly understand the essence of human selfishness, you will know what you lack; what is frightening is if people cannot understand this. It is easy to recognize obvious extravagant or unreasonable demands through analysis, and possible to hate yourself. Sometimes you might think that your demands are reasonable and fair, and because you deem them reasonable and think that’s the way things should be, and because others make similar demands, it may seem to you that your demands aren’t excessive, but are justifiable and natural. This shows that you still don’t have the truth, which is why you cannot clearly understand them. Here’s an example: Suppose that there was a man who followed God for many years, and suffered a lot through many storms and challenges. He always appeared to behave well, and seemed okay in terms of his humanity, his suffering, and his devotion to God. He was even rather possessed of conscience, willing to repay God’s love, and usually knew to step carefully while carrying out his work. Later, I discovered that this man spoke clearly and nicely, but wasn’t obedient in the slightest, so I replaced him and commanded that he not be used again in the future. He had worked for the church for several years, and suffered a lot, and yet he was ultimately replaced. What’s more, I hadn’t resolved some of his practical difficulties. What would people think of this kind of situation? First, many people would come to his defense and say, “That’s not okay. In these circumstances God should show him great mercy and grace, because he loves God, and expends for Him. If someone like him, who has believed in God for many years, can be cast out, what hope do new believers like us have?” Here come people’s demands once more, always hoping that God will bless that person, and let him remain, while still thinking: “That guy has done right by God, God shouldn’t let him down!” So many of the demands that people make of God arise from human notions and imaginings. People are measuring what God should give to people, and how He should treat them according to the standards of conscience for what is fair and reasonable among men, but how can this be in line with the truth? Why do I say that mankind’s demands are all unreasonable? Because they are the standards that people demand from other people. Do people have the truth? Are they able to see through to man’s essence? Some people demand that God treat people according to the standard of conscience, holding God to the standard demanded of humans. This isn’t in line with the truth, and it is unreasonable. People are able to endure when it comes to some small matters, but may not be able to bear it when their outcome is ultimately determined. Their demands will come out, and words of complaint and condemnation will flow from their mouths without restraint, and they will start to show their true colors. At that time, they will know their own nature. People are always making demands of God according to human notions and their own will, and they make many demands of this sort. You may not normally notice, and think that occasionally praying to God for something doesn’t count as a demand, but actually, careful analysis shows that many human demands are unreasonable, lacking in reason, and even ridiculous. You didn’t recognize the seriousness of this matter before, but you will gradually come to know it in the future, and then you will have a true understanding of your own nature. Little by little, experience will bring you knowledge and discernment of your nature, and, in combination with fellowshiping on the truth, you will come to know it clearly—then you will have entered into the truth in this respect. When you truly understand man’s nature essence clearly, your disposition will change, and then you will have the truth.

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

All of people’s demands and plots are incompatible with the truth, and at odds with God’s requirements and will. God loves none of them, they are all loathed and despised by Him. The demands people make of God, all they pursue, and the paths they walk all have nothing to do with the truth. Some people think, “I’ve been working for the church for so many years—if I’m sick, God should heal and bless me.” In particular, those who have believed in God for a long time demand even more from Him; those who have only believed for a short time feel unworthy, but after a while, they’ll begin to feel entitled. This is just how people are; this is man’s nature, and no person is an exception to this. Some people say, “I’ve never made excessive demands of God because I am a created being, and I am not worthy of asking anything of Him.” Do not rush to say that, time will reveal everything. People’s nature and intentions will be eventually exposed and burst forth one day. People don’t make demands of God because they don’t think it’s necessary, or the right time, or because they’ve already made so many demands of God, yet they just don’t realize that it’s a demand. In short, people have this kind of nature, so it is impossible for them not to reveal it. With the right circumstances or opportunity, it will naturally be revealed. Why fellowship on this today? It’s to make people understand what is in their own nature. Don’t think that believing in God for a few years, or doing a few days’ work for the church, means that you’ve expended, devoted, or suffered a lot for Him and deserve to obtain a few things, like the enjoyment of material things, bodily nourishment, or to be more respected and valued by others, or for God to speak gently to you, or to care about you more, and to ask often whether you’re eating and dressing well, how you’re doing physically, and so on. These things arise unconsciously in people when they have expended a long time for God, and they come to think that they deserve to demand anything from Him. When they have only been expending for God for a short amount of time, they think that they don’t have the right, and they don’t dare to make demands of God. But over time, they’ll think that they have capital and their demands will start coming out, and these aspects of their nature will be exposed. Aren’t people like this? Why don’t people contemplate on whether it’s right to make demands like this of God? Do you deserve these things? Did God promise them to you? If something doesn’t belong to you, yet you stubbornly demand it, this is at odds with the truth, and entirely born from your satanic nature. How did the archangel behave in the beginning? It was given too high a position, given too much, so it thought that it deserved whatever it desired and whatever it obtained, finally reaching the point where it said, “I want to be on equal footing with God!” That is why people believe in God with too many demands, too grand desires. If they don’t examine themselves, and fail to realize the seriousness of the problem, then one day they’ll say, “Step down, God. I could more or less be God myself,” or, “God, I’ll wear whatever You wear, eat whatever You eat.” People who have reached this level are already treating God as a human. Though people verbally recognize that God incarnate is God Himself, these are all just superficial words. In reality, their hearts do not have the slightest bit of submission to or fear of God. Some people even want to be God, and there will be trouble if their ambitions and desires swell to this degree. It is likely that a calamity will befall them, and even if they’re expelled from the church, they will still be punished by God.

Believers in God should treat God as God, and only by doing so are they truly believing in God. They shouldn’t just acknowledge God’s position, they should have true understanding and fear of God’s essence and disposition, and be absolutely obedient. Here are a couple of ways to practice this: First, maintain piety and an honest attitude within when interacting with God, without any notions or imaginings, and possess an obedient heart. Second, bring the intentions behind everything you say, every question you ask, and everything you do before God to examine them and pray. Only by knowing how to practice in accordance with the truth principles, and with a basis in God’s word, will you be able to enter the truth reality. If you do not seek the truth, you will not only be unable to enter the truth reality, but you’ll accumulate more and more notions, and that spells trouble. When you regard God as a person, then the God you believe in is a vague God in heaven; you will have completely denied the incarnation, and you will no longer acknowledge the practical God in your heart. At this time, you will become an antichrist and fall into darkness. The more justifications you have, the more demands you will make of God, and the more notions you will have about Him, which will put you in increasing danger. The more demands you make of God, the more it proves that you simply don’t treat God as God. If you always harbor demands of God in your heart, then, over time, you will likely treat yourself as God, and bear testimony for yourself when working in the church, even saying, “Doesn’t God bear testimony for Himself? Why can’t I?” Because you don’t understand God’s work, you will have notions about Him, and you will not have a God-fearing heart. Your tone of voice will change, your disposition will become arrogant, and in the end, you will gradually come to exalt and bear testimony for yourself. This is the process of man’s decline, and it is completely brought about by them not pursuing the truth.

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

Although Job had never seen God or heard the words of God with his own ears, God had a place in Job’s heart. What was Job’s attitude toward God? It was, as previously referred to, “blessed be the name of Jehovah.” His blessing of God’s name was unconditional, irrespective of context, and bound to no reason. We see that Job had given his heart to God, allowing it to be controlled by God; all that he thought, all that he decided, and all that he planned in his heart was laid open to God and not closed off from God. His heart did not stand in opposition to God, and he had never asked God to do anything for him or give him anything, and he did not harbor extravagant desires that he would gain anything from his worship of God. Job did not talk of trades with God, and made no requests or demands of God. His praising of God’s name was because of the great power and authority of God in ruling all things, and it was not dependent on whether he gained blessings or was struck by disaster. He believed that regardless of whether God blesses people or brings disaster upon them, God’s power and authority will not change, and thus, regardless of a person’s circumstances, God’s name should be praised. That man is blessed by God is because of God’s sovereignty, and when disaster befalls man, so, too, it is because of God’s sovereignty. God’s power and authority rule over and arrange everything about man; the vagaries of man’s fortune are the manifestation of God’s power and authority, and regardless of one’s viewpoint, God’s name should be praised. This is what Job experienced and came to know during the years of his life. All of Job’s thoughts and actions reached the ears of God and arrived before God, and were seen as important by God. God cherished this knowledge of Job, and treasured Job for having such a heart. This heart awaited God’s command always, and in all places, and no matter what the time or place it welcomed whatever befell him. Job made no demands of God. What he demanded of himself was to wait for, accept, face, and obey all of the arrangements that came from God; Job believed this to be his duty, and it was precisely what was wanted by God. Job had never seen God, nor heard Him speak any words, issue any commands, give any teachings, or instruct him of anything. In the words of today, for him to be able to possess such a knowledge and attitude toward God when God had given him no enlightenment, guidance, or provision with regard to the truth—this was precious, and for him to demonstrate such things was enough for God, and his testimony was commended and cherished by God.

—The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God’s Work, God’s Disposition, and God Himself II

People are not qualified to make demands of God. There is nothing more unreasonable than making demands of God. He will do what He ought to do, and His disposition is righteous. Righteousness is by no means fairness or reasonableness; it is not egalitarianism, or a matter of allocating to you what you deserve in accordance with how much work you have completed, or paying you for whatever work you have done, or giving you your due according to what effort you expend. This is not righteousness, it is merely being fair and reasonable. Very few people are capable of knowing God’s righteous disposition. Suppose God had eliminated Job after Job bore witness for Him: Would this be righteous? In fact, it would be. Why is this called righteousness? How do people view righteousness? If something is in line with people’s notions, it is then very easy for them to say that God is righteous; however, if they do not see that thing as being in line with their notions—if it is something that they are incapable of comprehending—then it would be difficult for them to say that God is righteous. If God had destroyed Job back then, people would not have said He was righteous. Actually, though, whether people have been corrupted or not, and whether they have been profoundly corrupted or not, does God have to justify Himself when He destroys them? Should He have to explain to people upon what basis it is that He does so? Must God tell people the rules He has ordained? There is no need. In God’s eyes, someone who is corrupt, and who is liable to oppose God, is without any worth; however God handles them will be appropriate, and all are the arrangements of God. If you were displeasing to God’s eyes, and if He said that He had no use for you after your testimony and therefore destroyed you, would this, too, be His righteousness? It would. You might not be able to recognize this right now from the facts, but you must understand in doctrine. What would you say—is God’s destruction of Satan an expression of His righteousness? (Yes.) What if He allowed Satan to remain? You dare not say, yes? God’s essence is righteousness. Though it is not easy to comprehend what He does, all that He does is righteous; it is simply that people do not understand. When God gave Peter to Satan, how did Peter respond? “Mankind is unable to fathom what You do, but all of what You do contains Your good will; there is righteousness in all of it. How can I not utter praise for Your wisdom and deeds?” You should now see that the reason God does not destroy Satan in the time of His salvation of man is that humans may see clearly how Satan has corrupted them and the extent to which it has corrupted them, and how God purifies and saves them. Ultimately, when people have understood the truth and clearly seen Satan’s odious countenance, and beheld the monstrous sin of Satan’s corruption of them, God will destroy Satan, showing them His righteousness. The timing when God destroys Satan is filled with God’s disposition and wisdom. Everything that God does is righteous. Though humans may not be able to perceive God’s righteousness, they should not make judgments at will. If something He does appears to humans as unreasonable, or if they have any notions about it, and that leads them to say that He is not righteous, then they are being most unreasonable.

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

Since you believe in and follow God, you should offer everything to Him, and should not make personal choices or demands, and you should achieve the fulfillment of God’s desire. Since you were created, you should obey the Lord that created you, for you are inherently without dominion over yourself, and have no ability to control your own destiny. Since you are a person who believes in God, you should seek holiness and change. Since you are a creature of God, you should adhere to your duty, and keep your place, and you must not overstep your duty. This is not to constrain you, or to suppress you through doctrine, but is instead the path through which you can perform your duty, and it can be achieved—and should be achieved—by all those who do righteousness. … God created all things, and so He makes all creation come under His dominion and submit to His dominion; He will command all things, so that all things are in His hands. All of God’s creation, including animals, plants, mankind, the mountains and rivers, and the lakes—all must come under His dominion. All things in the skies and on the ground must come under His dominion. They cannot have any choice and must all submit to His orchestrations. This was decreed by God, and it is the authority of God. God commands everything, and orders and ranks all things, with each classed according to kind, and allotted their own position, according to God’s will. No matter how great it is, no thing can surpass God, all things serve the mankind created by God, and no thing dares to disobey God or make any demands of God. Therefore man, as a creature of God, must also perform the duty of man. Regardless of whether he is the lord or caretaker of all things, no matter how high man’s status among all things, still he is but a small human being under the dominion of God, and is no more than an insignificant human being, a creature of God, and he will never be above God. As a creature of God, man should seek to perform the duty of a creature of God, and seek to love God without making other choices, for God is worthy of man’s love. Those who seek to love God should not seek any personal benefits or seek that which they personally long for; this is the most correct means of pursuit. If what you seek is the truth, if what you put into practice is the truth, and if what you attain is a change in your disposition, then the path that you tread is the right one. If what you seek is the blessings of the flesh, and what you put into practice is the truth of your own notions, and if there is no change in your disposition, and you are not at all obedient to God in the flesh, and you still live in vagueness, then what you seek will surely take you to hell, for the path that you walk is the path of failure. Whether you will be made perfect or cast out depends on your own pursuit, which is also to say that success or failure depends on the path that man walks.

—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. Success or Failure Depends on the Path That Man Walks

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Man Makes Too Many Demands on God