Eastern Lightning | Gospel Questions & Answers

For two thousand years, man’s belief in the Lord has been based on the Bible, and the coming of the Lord Jesus did not negate the Old Testament Bible. After Almighty God has done His work of judgment in the last days, everyone who accepts Almighty God will focus on eating and drinking the words of Almighty God and will seldom read the Bible anymore. What I would like to pursue is, after one accepts the work of Almighty God in the last days, what exactly is the correct approach one should have to the Bible, and how should one use it? What must one’s belief in God be based on in order for one to walk the path of belief in God and to attain God’s salvation?

 Eastern Lightning | Gospel Questions & Answers

Answer:

This question is of the utmost importance! To accept God’s work of the last days and behold the appearance of God, we must know how to identify the voice of God. In fact, identifying the voice of God means recognizing the words and utterances of God and recognizing the characteristics of the Creator’s words. Regardless of whether they are the words of God become flesh, or the utterances of the Spirit of God, they are all words spoken by God to mankind from up high.Such are the tone and characteristics of God’s words. The authority and identity of God are clearly manifested. It can also be said to be the unique means by which the Creator speaks. God’s utterances each time He becomes flesh surely cover many areas. They primarily relate to God’s requirements and admonitions of man, the words of God’s administrative decrees and commandments. His words of judgment and chastisement, and His revelation of corrupt mankind. There are also words of prophecies and God’s promises to mankind and so on. These words are all the expression of the truth, the way, and the life. They are all the revelation of the substance of God’s life. They represent God’s disposition and all that God has and is. We are able to see from the words expressed by God that God’s words are the truth, and they have authority, and power. Thus, if you wish to determine whether the words expressed by Almighty God are the voice of God, you can look at the words of the Lord Jesus and the words of Almighty God. You can compare them, and see whether they are the words expressed by one Spirit, and whether they are the work done by one God. If their source is the same, then this proves that Almighty God’s words are God’s utterances, and that Almighty God is the appearance of God. Let us look at the words spoken by Jehovah God during the Age of Law, and the words of the Lord Jesus in the Age of Grace. They were both the direct expression of the Holy Spirit, and, moreover, were the work of one God. This proves that the Lord Jesus was the appearance of Jehovah God, the appearance of the Creator. Those who have read the Bible all know that in the words expressed by the Lord Jesus during the Age of Grace, there were words of admonitions, words of God’s requirements of mankind, and words that touched upon God’s administrative decrees. There are words of many prophecies and promises too. These words were one complete stage of work carried out by God during the Age of Grace.

God’s sheep hear His voice. When it comes to how to specifically identify the voice of God, all will become clear if we look at the words of the Lord Jesus. First, we will look at the Lord Jesus’ requirements and admonitions for man. For example, the Lord Jesus said, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mat 4:17). “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like to it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Mat 22:37-40). In chapter 5 of Matthew, the Lord Jesus said: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. … Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. … Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven” (Mat 5:3, 6, 10-12).

Let us look at what the Lord Jesus said about administrative decrees. Matthew 12:31-32, The Lord Jesus said, “Why I say to you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven to men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven to men. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whoever speaks against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.” Also, in Matthew 5:22 the Lord Jesus said: “But I say to you, That whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whoever shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

In addition to these words of administrative decrees, there are also the Lord Jesus’ words judging and exposing the Pharisees. The Lord Jesus said, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in” (Mat 23:13). “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Mat 23:15).

Brothers and sisters, the Lord Jesus also spoke some words of prophecies and promises to man. In John 14:2-3, the Lord Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” There’s also John 12:47-48, the Lord Jesus also said, “And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejects me, and receives not my words, has one that judges him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” So, too, is there Revelation 21:3-4: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

From the various truths expressed by the Lord Jesus during the Age of Grace, we can see that the Lord Jesus was the appearance of the Savior, and that the Lord Jesus’ words were God’s utterances to all mankind. He directly expressed God’s disposition and His will for mankind, to lead mankind, to provide to mankind, and personally redeem mankind. This perfectly represents the identity and authority of God Himself. Reading them immediately makes us feel that these words are the truth, and possess authority and power. These words are the voice of God, they are God’s utterances to mankind. During the last days, the Lord Jesus has returned: Almighty God has come to do the work of judgment of the last days. He has ushered in the Age of Kingdom, and brought an end to the Age of Grace. Based upon the Lord Jesus’ work of redemption, Almighty God has done the stage of work of judgment beginning from the house of God, and has expressed all truths for the purification and salvation of mankind. The words expressed by Almighty God are rich in content, and totally comprehensive. Just as Almighty God says, “It is fair to say that this was the first time since the creation that God had addressed all mankind. Never before had God spoken to created mankind in such detail and so systematically. Of course, this was also the first time He had spoken so much, and for so long, to all mankind. It was totally unprecedented. What’s more, these utterances were the first text expressed by God among mankind in which He exposed people, guided them, judged them, and spoke heart-to-heart to them and so, too, were they the first utterances in which God let people know His footsteps, the place in which He lies, God’s disposition, what God has and is, God’s thoughts, and His concern for mankind. It can be said that these were the first utterances that God had spoken to mankind from the third heaven since the creation, and the first time that God had used His inherent identity to appear and express His voice to mankind amid words” (Introduction to Part One of The Word Appears in the Flesh). The words expressed by Almighty God are wide-ranging and rich beyond comparison. In them, there is mainly judgment, the revelation of man, and the administrative decrees and commandments of the Age of Kingdom, as well as God’s admonitions, requirements, and promises toward man, and also prophecies. Let us first read several passages of God’s words about God’s admonitions and requirements of man as well as His work.

Almighty God says, “Today, those who bear genuine love toward Me, people like these are blessed; blessed are those who submit to Me, they will surely stay in My kingdom; blessed are those who know Me, they will surely wield power in My kingdom; blessed are those who seek after Me, they will surely escape from Satan’s bonds and enjoy blessing in Me; blessed are those who are able to forsake themselves, they will surely enter into My possession, and inherit My kingdom’s bounty. Those who run around for My sake I will commemorate, those who go to expense for My sake I will joyfully embrace, those who make offering to Me I will give enjoyments. Those who find enjoyment in My words I will bless; they will surely be the pillars that hold up the ridgepole in My kingdom, they will surely have matchless bounty in My house, and no one can compare with them” (“The Nineteenth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

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

If people remain in the Age of Grace, then they shall never be free of their corrupt disposition, let alone know the inherent disposition of God. If people always live among an abundance of grace but are without the way of life that allows them to know God and satisfy God, then they shall never truly gain Him though they believe in Him. What a pitiful form of belief that is” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“Before man was redeemed, many of Satan’s poisons were already planted within him. After thousands of years of Satan’s corruption, man already has within him a nature that resists God. Therefore, when man has been redeemed, it is nothing more than redemption, where man is bought at a high price, but the poisonous nature within has not been eliminated. Man that is so defiled must undergo a change before being worthy to serve God. Through this work of judgment and chastisement, man will fully come to know the filthy and corrupt substance within him, and he will be able to completely change and become clean. Only in this way can man be worthy to return before the throne of God” (“The Mystery of the Incarnation (4)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“None actively seek out the footsteps or appearance of God, and none wish to exist in the care and keeping of God. Rather, they are willing to rely on the corrosion of Satan and the evil one in order to adapt to this world and to the rules of life the wicked mankind follows. At this point, the heart and spirit of man are sacrificed to Satan and become its sustenance. Moreover, the human heart and spirit become a place in which Satan can reside and a fitting playground for it. In this way, man unknowingly loses his understanding of the principles of being human, and of the worth and purpose of human existence. The laws from God and the covenant between God and man gradually fade away in man’s heart and man no longer seeks or pays heed to God. As time passes, man no longer understands why God created man, nor does he understand the words that come from the mouth of God or realize all that is from God. Man begins to resist the laws and decrees from God; the heart and spirit of man become deadened. … God loses the man of His original creation, and man loses the root of his beginning. This is the sorrow of this mankind” (“God Is the Source of Man’s Life” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“Mankind has developed through tens of thousands of years of history to get where they are today. However, the mankind of My original creation has long ago sunk into degeneracy. They are already not what I intended, and thus people, the way I see them, are already undeserving of the name mankind. They are rather the scum of mankind, looted by Satan, and the rotten walking corpses which Satan lives in and is clothed with. People do not in the least believe in My existence, nor do they welcome My arrival. Mankind only begrudgingly responds to My requests, temporarily agrees with them, and does not sincerely share in life’s joys and sorrows with Me. As people see Me as inscrutable, they begrudgingly pretend to smile at Me, betraying their manner of coddling up to power. This is because people have no knowledge of My work, much less of My intention today. I’ll be honest with all of you—when the day comes, the suffering of anyone who worships Me will be easier to bear than yours. The degree of your faith in Me does not, in actuality, exceed that of Job—and even the faith of the Jewish Pharisees surpasses yours—so in the impending days of fire, you will suffer more seriously than the Pharisees when rebuked by Jesus, more seriously than the 250 leaders that had resisted Moses, and more seriously than Sodom under the scorching flames of its destruction” (“What a Real Man Means” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“Man lost his God-fearing heart after being corrupted by Satan and lost the function that one of God’s creatures should have, becoming an enemy disobedient to God. Man lived under Satan’s domain and followed Satan’s orders; thus, God had no way to work among His creatures, and was all the more unable to win fear from His creatures. Man was created by God, and ought to worship God, but man actually turned his back to God and worshiped Satan. Satan became the idol in man’s heart. Thus God lost His standing in man’s heart, which is to say that He lost the meaning of His creation of man, and so to restore the meaning of His creation of man He must restore man’s original likeness and rid man of his corrupt disposition. To reclaim man from Satan, He must save man from sin. Only in this way can He gradually restore man’s original likeness and restore man’s original function, and in the end restore His kingdom. The ultimate destruction of those sons of disobedience will also be carried out in order to allow man to better worship God and better live upon the earth. Since God created man, He shall make man worship Him; since He wishes to restore man’s original function, He shall restore it completely, and without any adulteration. Restoring His authority means making man worship Him and making man obey Him; it means that He shall make man live because of Him and make His enemies perish because of His authority; it means that He will make every last part of Him persist among humanity and without any resistance by man. The kingdom He wishes to establish is His own kingdom. The humanity He wishes for is one that worships Him, one that completely obeys Him and has His glory. If He does not save corrupt humanity, the meaning of His creation of man will come to nothing; He will have no more authority among man, and His kingdom will no longer be able to exist upon the earth. If He does not destroy those enemies who are disobedient to Him, He will be unable to obtain His complete glory, nor will He be able to establish His kingdom upon the earth. These are the symbols of the completion of His work and the symbols of the completion of His great accomplishment: to utterly destroy those among humanity who are disobedient to Him, and to bring those who have been made complete into rest” (“God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“You only know that Jesus shall descend during the last days, but how exactly will He descend? A sinner such as you, who has just been redeemed, and has not been changed, or been perfected by God, can you be after God’s heart? For you, you who are still of your old self, it is true that you were saved by Jesus, and that you are not counted as a sinner because of the salvation of God, but this does not prove that you are not sinful, and are not impure. How can you be saintly if you have not been changed? Within, you are beset by impurity, selfish and mean, yet you still wish to descend with Jesus—you should be so lucky! You have missed a step in your belief in God: You have merely been redeemed, but have not been changed. For you to be after God’s heart, God must personally do the work of changing and cleansing you; if you are only redeemed, you will be incapable of attaining sanctity. In this way you will be unqualified to share in the good blessings of God, for you have missed out a step in God’s work of managing man, which is the key step of changing and perfecting. And so you, a sinner who has just been redeemed, are incapable of directly inheriting God’s inheritance” (“Concerning Appellations and Identity” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“You must know what kind of people I desire; those who are impure are not permitted to enter into the kingdom, those who are impure are not permitted to besmirch the holy ground. Though you may have done much work, and have worked for many years, in the end if you are still deplorably filthy—it is intolerable to the law of Heaven that you wish to enter My kingdom! From the foundation of the world until today, never have I offered easy access to My kingdom to those who curry favor with Me. This is a heavenly rule, and no one can break it! You must seek life. Today, those who will be made perfect are the same kind as Peter: They are those who seek changes in their own disposition, and are willing to bear testimony to God and perform their duty as a creature of God. Only people such as this will be made perfect. If you only look to rewards, and do not seek to change your own life disposition, then all your efforts will be in vain—and this is an unalterable truth!” (“Success or Failure Depends on the Path That Man Walks” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

With regard to Almighty God’s work of judgment during the Age of Kingdom, let us read several passages of Almighty God’s words.

Almighty God says, “In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, expose the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes it over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only methods of this kind are deemed judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“God does the work of judgment and chastisement so that man may know Him, and for the sake of His testimony. Without His judgment of man’s corrupt disposition, man would not know His righteous disposition that allows no offense, and could not turn his old knowledge of God into a new one. For the sake of His testimony, and for the sake of His management, He makes His entirety public, thus enabling man to achieve the knowledge of God, and change his disposition, and bear resounding testimony to God through God’s public appearance. Change is achieved in the disposition of man through different kinds of God’s work; without such changes in man’s disposition, man would be unable to bear testimony to God, and could not be after God’s heart. Changes in man’s disposition signify that man has freed himself from Satan’s bondage, has freed himself from the influence of darkness, and has truly become a model and specimen of God’s work, has truly become a witness of God and someone who is after God’s heart” (“Only Those Who Know God Can Bear Testimony to God” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“In His final work of concluding the age, God’s disposition is one of chastisement and judgment, which reveals all that is unrighteous, publicly judges all peoples, and perfects those who truly love Him. Only a disposition such as this can bring the age to an end. The last days have already arrived. All things will be classed according to their kind, and will be divided into different categories based on their nature. This is the time when God reveals people’s outcome and their destination. If people do not undergo chastisement and judgment, then there will be no way of revealing their disobedience and unrighteousness. Only through chastisement and judgment can the end of all things be revealed. Man only shows his true colors when he is chastised and judged. Evil shall return to evil, good shall return to good, and people shall be classified according to their kind. Through chastisement and judgment, the end of all things will be revealed, so that the evil will be punished and the good will be rewarded, and all people will become subject under the dominion of God. All the work must be achieved through righteous chastisement and judgment. Because man’s corruption has reached its peak and his disobedience has been too serious, only God’s righteous disposition, which is principally one of chastisement and judgment and is revealed during the last days, can fully transform and complete man. Only this disposition can expose evil and thus severely punish all the unrighteous. … During the last days, only righteous judgment can classify man and bring man into a new realm. In this way, the entire age is brought to an end through God’s righteous disposition of judgment and chastisement” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“Do you understand now what is judgment and what is truth? If you have understood, then I exhort you to submit obediently to being judged, otherwise you shall never have the opportunity to be commended by God or to be brought by Him into His kingdom. Those who only accept judgment but can never be purified, that is, those who flee in the midst of the work of judgment, shall forever be detested and rejected by God. Their sins are more numerous, and more grievous, than those of the Pharisees, for they have betrayed God and are rebels against God. Such men who are not worthy even to do service shall receive more severe punishment, a punishment that is moreover everlasting. God shall not spare any traitor who once evinced loyalty with words but then betrayed Him. Men like these shall receive retribution through punishment of the spirit, soul, and body. Is this not precisely a revelation of the righteous disposition of God? Is this not God’s purpose in judging man, and revealing him? God consigns all those who perform all kinds of wicked deeds during the time of judgment to a place infested with evil spirits, letting these evil spirits destroy their fleshly bodies at will. Their bodies give off the stench of corpses, and such is their fitting retribution. God writes down in their record books each and every one of the sins of those disloyal false believers, false apostles, and false workers; then, when the time is right, He casts them amidst the unclean spirits, letting these unclean spirits defile their entire bodies at will, so that they may never be reincarnated and never again see the light. Those hypocrites who did service at one time but are unable to remain loyal to the end are numbered by God among the wicked, so that they walk in the counsel of the wicked and become part of their disorderly rabble; in the end, God shall annihilate them. God casts aside and takes no notice of those who have never been loyal to Christ or dedicated any effort, and shall annihilate them all in the change of ages. They shall no longer exist on earth, much less gain passage into the kingdom of God. Those who have never been sincere to God but are forced by circumstance into dealing with Him perfunctorily are numbered among those who do service for His people. Only a small number of such men can survive, while the majority shall perish along with those who are not qualified even to do service. Finally, God shall bring into His kingdom all those who are of the same mind as God, the people and the sons of God as well as those predestined by God to be priests. Such is the distillate obtained by God through His work. As for those who are unable to fall into any of the categories set by God, they shall be numbered among the unbelievers. And you can surely imagine what their outcome shall be. I have already said to you all that I should say; the road that you choose shall be your decision to make. What you should understand is this: The work of God never waits for any that cannot keep pace with Him, and the righteous disposition of God shows no mercy to any man” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

Let us read two passages of the administrative decrees issued forth by Almighty God in the Age of Kingdom.

“The Ten Administrative Decrees That Must Be Obeyed by God’s Chosen People in the Age of Kingdom

1. Man should not magnify himself, nor exalt himself. He should worship and exalt God.

2. You should do anything that is beneficial to God’s work, and nothing that is detrimental to the interests of God’s work. You should defend God’s name, God’s testimony, and God’s work.

3. The money, material objects, and all property in God’s household are the offerings that should be given by man. These offerings may be enjoyed by none but the priest and God, for the offerings of man are for the enjoyment of God, God only shares these offerings with the priest, and no one else is qualified or entitled to enjoy any part of them. All of man’s offerings (including money and things that can be enjoyed materially) are given to God, not to man. And so, these things should not be enjoyed by man; if man were to enjoy them, then he would be stealing offerings. Anyone who does this is a Judas, for, in addition to being a traitor, Judas also helped himself to what was put in the money bag.

4. Man has corrupt disposition and, moreover, he is possessed of emotions. As such, it is absolutely prohibited for two members of the opposite sex to work together when serving God. Any who are discovered doing so will be expelled, without exception—and no one is exempt.

5. You shall not pass judgment on God, nor casually discuss matters related to God. You should do as man ought to do, and speak as man ought to speak, and must not overstep your limits nor transgress your boundaries. Guard your own tongue and be careful of your own footsteps. All this will prevent you from doing anything that offends God’s disposition.

6. You should do that which ought to be done by man, and carry out your obligations, and fulfill your responsibilities, and hold to your duty. Since you believe in God, you should make your contribution to God’s work; if you do not, then you are unfit to eat and drink the words of God, and are unfit to live in God’s household.

7. In work and matters of the church, apart from obeying God, in everything you should follow the instructions of the man who is used by the Holy Spirit. Even the slightest infraction is unacceptable. You must be absolute in your compliance, and must not analyze right or wrong; what’s right or wrong has nothing to do with you. You must only concern yourself with total obedience.

8. People who believe in God should obey God and worship Him. You should not exalt or look up to any person; you ought not to give first place to God, second place to the people you look up to, and third place to yourself. No person should hold a place in your heart, and you should not consider people—particularly those you venerate—to be on a par with God, to be His equal. This is intolerable to God.

9. Your thoughts ought to be of the work of the church. You should put aside the prospects of your own flesh, be decisive about family matters, wholeheartedly devote yourself to the work of God, and put God’s work first and your own life second. This is the decency of a saint.

10. Kin who are not of the faith (your children, your husband or wife, your sisters or your parents, and so on) should not be forced into the church. God’s household is not short of members, and there is no need to make up its numbers with people who have no use. All those who do not believe gladly must not be led into the church. This decree is directed at all people. In this matter you should check, monitor and remind each other, and no one may violate it. Even when kin who are not of the faith do reluctantly enter the church, they must not be issued books or given a new name; such people are not of God’s household, and their entry into the church must be put a stop to by any means necessary. If trouble is brought upon the church due to the invasion of demons, then you yourself will be expelled or will have restrictions placed upon you. In short, everyone has a responsibility toward this matter, but you should also not be reckless, or use it to settle personal scores” (“The Ten Administrative Decrees That Must Be Obeyed by God’s Chosen People in the Age of Kingdom” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“I will hurl forth My rage upon its nations, openly promulgating My administrative decrees throughout the universe, and visit chastisement on whomever violates them:

As I turn My face to the universe to speak, all mankind hears My voice, and thereupon sees all the works I have wrought throughout the universe. Those who go contrary to My will, that is to say, who oppose Me with the deeds of man, will fall down under My chastisement. I will take the multitudinous stars in the heavens and make them anew, and thanks to Me the sun and the moon will be renewed—the skies will no longer be as they were; the myriad things on the earth will be renewed. All will become complete through My words. The many nations within the universe will be partitioned afresh and replaced by My nation, so that the nations upon the earth will disappear forever and become a nation that worships Me; all the nations of the earth will be destroyed, and will cease to exist. Of the human beings within the universe, all those belonging to the devil will be exterminated; all who worship Satan will be laid low by My burning fire—that is, except for those now within the stream, the rest will be turned to ashes. When I chastise the many peoples, those in the religious world will, in differing degrees, return to My kingdom, conquered by My works, because they will have seen the advent of the Holy One riding on a white cloud. All of humanity will follow their own kind, and will receive chastisements varying with what they have done. Those who have stood against Me will all perish; as for those whose deeds on the earth have not involved Me, they will, because of how they have acquitted themselves, continue to exist on the earth under the governance of My sons and My people. I will reveal Myself to the myriad peoples and the myriad nations, sounding forth with My own voice upon the earth to proclaim the completion of My great work for all mankind to see with their own eyes” (“The Twenty-sixth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

We’ll read some more passages of Almighty God’s prophecies and His promise to man.

“In the kingdom, the myriad things of creation begin to revive and regain their life force. Due to changes in the state of the earth, the boundaries between one land and another also begin to shift. Formerly, I have prophesied: When land is divided from land, and land unites with land, this will be the time that I will smash up the nations into smithereens. At this time, I will renew all of creation and repartition the entire universe, thereby putting the universe in order, transforming its old state into a new one. This is My plan. These are My works. When the nations and the peoples of the world all return before My throne, I will thereupon take all the bounty of heaven and confer it upon the human world, so that, thanks to Me, it will brim with matchless bounty” (“The Twenty-sixth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“Following the completion of My words, the kingdom is gradually formed on earth and man is gradually returned to normality, and thus there is established on earth the kingdom in My heart. In the kingdom, all the people of God recover the life of normal man. Gone is the frosty winter, replaced by a world of cities of spring, where it is spring all year round. No longer are people faced with the gloomy, miserable world of man, no longer do they endure the cold chill of the world of man. People do not fight with each other, countries do not go to war against each other, no longer is there carnage and the blood that flows from carnage; all lands are filled with happiness, and everywhere teems with warmth between men” (“The Twentieth Utterance” of God’s Utterances to the Entire Universe in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“When humanity has been restored to their original likeness, when humanity can fulfill their respective duties, keep their own place and obey all of God’s arrangements, God will have obtained a group of people upon the earth who worship Him, and He will also have established a kingdom upon the earth that worships Him. He will have eternal victory upon the earth, and those who are opposed to Him will perish for all eternity. This will restore His original intention in creating man; it will restore His intention in creating all things, and it will also restore His authority upon earth, His authority among all things and His authority among His enemies. These are the symbols of His total victory. Henceforth humanity will enter into rest and enter into a life that follows the right track. God will also enter into eternal rest with man and enter into an eternal life shared by God and man. The filth and disobedience upon the earth shall disappear, as shall the wailing upon the earth. All upon the earth that opposes God will not exist. Only God and those people that He has saved shall remain; only His creation shall remain” (“God and Man Will Enter Into Rest Together” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

After we hear the words of Almighty God, we have seen that Almighty God and the Lord Jesus are one and the same. They are both God incarnate standing upon high and speaking to mankind. What They both reveal is God’s disposition and His holy substance. And in this, they perfectly demonstrate God’s authority and identity. From the Lord Jesus’ words of judgment and revelation of the Pharisees and Almighty God’s words of judgment and revelation of corrupt mankind, we see that God hates evil, and despises the corruption of mankind. We see God’s righteous and holy disposition, and moreover, that God observes the depths of man’s heart. Mankind’s corruption is as familiar to Him as the back of His hand. From the Lord Jesus’ and Almighty God’s admonitions and requirements of mankind, we see God’s expectations of mankind, God likes those who are honest, and He especially blesses those who truly dedicate themselves to Him. This shows us God’s concern for and salvation of mankind. From the Lord Jesus’ and Almighty God’s promises for mankind, we see God’s love for mankind, and, moreover, we behold the authority and power with which God commands the fate of mankind and rules over all things. The Lord Jesus’ and Almighty God’s utterances are alike in both tone and way of speaking, they are both the expression of God’s disposition. This perfectly demonstrates the identity and substance of God. Brothers and sisters, let’s think: Who, apart from the Creator, could express words to the whole mankind? Who could directly express God’s will, and make demands of mankind? Who could decide man’s end? Who could control whether they live or die? Who could control the stars in the universe, and hold dominion over all things? Apart from God, who could see through to the truth of the substance of corrupt mankind? And who could reveal the satanic nature hidden within the depths of our hearts? Who could accomplish God’s work of judgment of the last days and thoroughly save us from the influence of Satan? Only the Creator is possessed of such authority and power! Almighty God’s words perfectly demonstrate God’s unique authority and identity. Brothers and sisters, after hearing the words of Almighty God, we all feel such confirmation in our hearts: These words are all expressed by God, they are the voice of God. They are all the truths expressed by the Creator to mankind during the work of judgment of the last days. In our hearts, there is immediately born the true reverence of God. After reading the words of Almighty God, do you have the same sensation? This sufficiently proves that the words of Almighty God and the words of the Lord Jesus come from the same source. They are both the expression of one Spirit. They are the utterances of one God toward mankind in different ages. During the last days, Almighty God does the work of judgment beginning from the house of God based upon the foundation of the work of redemption of the Lord Jesus. Almighty God expresses all the truths for the salvation and purification of mankind, and reveals all the mysteries of God’s management plan for the salvation of mankind, and tells us clearly of the substance of various aspects of the truth. They open our eyes, and utterly convince us. Almighty God’s word and work have fulfilled and accomplished all the prophecies of the Lord Jesus. In all the words expressed by Almighty God for the work of judgment of the last days, we recognize the voice of God, and ascertain that Almighty God is the return of the Lord Jesus, the one true God who created the heavens and earth and all things, comes to do the work of judgment in the last days. He comes to end the rule of Satan on earth, the era of evil and darkness, and to usher in God’s rule on earth, the Age of Millennial Kingdom. And this brings true our beautiful wish of entering into the kingdom of heaven. Brothers and sisters, tell me, has Almighty God’s work in the last days accomplished all of the prophecies of the Lord Jesus?

from Classic Questions and Answers on the Gospel of the Kingdom

How do we hear the voice of God? The loftiness of our qualities or the length of our experience do not count in this. Believing in the Lord Jesus, what do we feel when we hear many of His words? Though we have no experience and knowledge of the Lord’s words, the moment we hear them we feel they are the truth, that they have power and authority. How does this feeling arise? Is it generated by virtue of our experience? It is the effect of inspiration and intuition. This suffices to prove that people with heart and spirit can all feel that the words of God have power and authority; this is hearing the voice of God. Furthermore, the greatest difference between the voice of God and that of man is that the voice of God is the truth and has power and authority; we can feel it as soon as we hear it. Regardless of whether we can put it into words, the feeling is clear. It is easier to discern the voice of man or of Satan; no sooner do we hear it than we feel it is human reasoning, a human concept that can be grasped and understood. We feel not the slightest power or authority in man’s words, and even less can we confirm they are the truth. This is the greatest difference between the words of God and the words of man. For example, you see that the words of the Lord Jesus have power and authority; as soon as you hear them you can confirm they are the truth, they are profound, mysterious, and beyond the measure of man. Isn’t that right? Now, let us look at the words of the apostles in the Bible. These fall far short of the words of the Lord Jesus. Even though what they say is also right, nevertheless, there is no power or authority in them; they are simply right and of benefit to man. Isn’t this the difference between the words of the apostles and the words of the Lord Jesus? Now, you tell me, could any man speak the words that the Lord Jesus did? There is no one who could! This affirms the words of the Lord Jesus as the voice of God. Could anyone who believes in the Lord Jesus speak the words that the apostles did? There are some that we too could say. Doesn’t that tell them apart? Is it not easy to distinguish between the voice of God and that of man?

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Reading the words of Almighty God, we all have the same feelings; we can all feel that this is God speaking to mankind! Apart from God, who could speak to all of mankind? Who could give expression to mankind of God’s intention to save mankind? Who could declare plain as day to all mankind God’s plan for His work of the last days and mankind’s outcome and destination? Who could solemnly declare to the entire cosmos God’s administrative decrees? Apart from God, no one could. Almighty God speaks to the whole of mankind and lets man feel the power and authority of God’s words; the words of Almighty God are the direct expression of God, they are the voice of God! All the words uttered by Almighty God are as if God stands upon the third heaven and speaks to all humanity; here Almighty God is speaking as the Creator to mankind, manifesting to mankind His unoffendable disposition of righteousness and majesty. When the sheep of God hear the words of Almighty God, though they do not understand the truth of them in the beginning, and though they have no experience of them, they feel that every word of Almighty God has power and authority and can affirm that they are the voice of God and the direct utterance of the Holy Spirit. God’s chosen people only need hear the words of God to affirm they are His voice. Why can those pastors and elders in religious circles condemn Almighty God? As for those various antichrists who do not recognize the incarnation of God, and do not admit that God can utter the truth, although they can see all the truths that God utters and feel that His words have power and authority, they still do not believe that God can speak in this way and do not admit that everything that God utters is the truth. What is the issue here? Can you tell? Almighty God incarnate in the last days can speak to all mankind, but how many of us can hear God’s voice? There are at present many in religious circles who see Almighty God’s utterance, yet they cannot discern that it is the voice of God; they even treat the words that God speaks like the words of man, and go so far as to use man’s conceptions in judging, slandering and condemning Him. Do these people have a heart that fears God? Aren’t they the same as the Pharisees of the past? They all hate the truth and condemn God. God’s words have such great authority, such power, and they do not recognize in the slightest that these words are the voice of God. Can such people be God’s sheep? Their hearts are blinded; though they hear, they do not know, and though they see, they fail to understand. How can such people be even worthy of rapture? Almighty God incarnate in the last days has uttered the truth, and exposed all the people in religious circles. The true believers and the false, the lovers of truth and those who loathe it, the wise and the foolish virgins are naturally divided, each into their kinds. As Almighty God says, “All who are wicked will be chastised by the words in God’s mouth, all who are righteous will be blessed by the words in His mouth” (“The Millennial Kingdom Has Arrived” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). Thus, those who can hear the voice of God have met the Lord’s second coming, and have been caught up before the throne of God and are attending the marriage supper of the Lamb. These people are the wise virgins, and the most fortunate of mankind.

To hear the voice of God you must listen with heart and spirit in close communion. The words of God are the truth, they have power and authority; those with heart and spirit can definitely feel it. Many people, having read the words of Almighty God for just a few days, can affirm they are God’s voice and His utterances. Every time God incarnates He comes to do a stage of work; unlike the prophets who, via God’s directions, just transmit a few words in a particular context. When God incarnates to do a stage of work He must speak many words; He must utter truths, reveal mysteries and speak prophecies. This needs years or even decades to complete. For example, in doing the work of redemption, the Lord Jesus first preached the message “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”, and taught man how to confess, how to repent, to forgive, to endure and how to suffer and bear one’s cross, and all else that constitutes the way man in the Age of Grace should follow. The Lord Jesus displayed God’s disposition of compassion and mercy, and revealed as well the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and the conditions under which we enter it; it was only right up to His crucifixion, His resurrection and His ascension to heaven that God’s work of redemption was completed. The words uttered by the Lord Jesus are all the truths that God has gifted to mankind in His work of redemption. In the last days Almighty God has come, and uttered all the truths that cleanse and save mankind. He has done the work of judgment starting from the house of God, and revealed to mankind His inherent disposition with righteousness as its core. He has unfolded all the great mysteries of His management plan spanning six thousand years; He has opened up the Age of Kingdom and brought to the end the Age of Grace. The words of Almighty God are the natural outpourings of the essence of God’s life and the expression of His disposition; this is an entire stage of the work of word God is doing in the last days to thoroughly cleanse and save mankind. Let us read some of the words of Almighty God, and hear whether they are the truth and have power and authority, alright?

Almighty God says, “When God becomes flesh this time, His work is to express His disposition, primarily through chastisement and judgment. Using this as the foundation, He brings more truth to man, shows more ways of practice, and so achieves His objective of conquering man and saving man from his corrupt disposition. This is what lies behind the work of God in the Age of Kingdom” (Preface to The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“In the last days, Christ uses a variety of truths to teach man, expose the essence of man, and dissect his words and deeds. These words comprise various truths, such as man’s duty, how man should obey God, how man should be loyal to God, how man ought to live out the normal humanity, as well as the wisdom and the disposition of God, and so on. These words are all directed at the essence of man and his corrupt disposition. In particular, those words that expose how man spurns God are spoken in regard to how man is an embodiment of Satan and an enemy force against God. In undertaking His work of judgment, God does not simply make clear the nature of man with just a few words; He exposes, deals with, and prunes it over the long term. These methods of exposure, dealing, and pruning cannot be substituted with ordinary words, but with the truth that man does not possess at all. Only methods of this kind are deemed judgment; only through judgment of this kind can man be subdued and thoroughly convinced into submission to God, and moreover gain true knowledge of God. What the work of judgment brings about is man’s understanding of the true face of God and the truth about his own rebelliousness. The work of judgment allows man to gain much understanding of the will of God, of the purpose of God’s work, and of the mysteries that are incomprehensible to him. It also allows man to recognize and know his corrupt substance and the roots of his corruption, as well as to discover the ugliness of man. These effects are all brought about by the work of judgment, for the substance of this work is actually the work of opening up the truth, the way, and the life of God to all those who have faith in Him. This work is the work of judgment done by God” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“The last days have already arrived. All things will be classed according to their kind, and will be divided into different categories based on their nature. This is the time when God reveals people’s outcome and their destination. If people do not undergo chastisement and judgment, then there will be no way of revealing their disobedience and unrighteousness. Only through chastisement and judgment can the end of all things be revealed. Man only shows his true colors when he is chastised and judged. Evil shall return to evil, good shall return to good, and people shall be classified according to their kind. Through chastisement and judgment, the end of all things will be revealed, so that the evil will be punished and the good will be rewarded, and all people will become subject under the dominion of God. All the work must be achieved through righteous chastisement and judgment. Because man’s corruption has reached its peak and his disobedience has been too serious, only God’s righteous disposition, which is principally one of chastisement and judgment and is revealed during the last days, can fully transform and complete man. Only this disposition can expose evil and thus severely punish all the unrighteous. … During the last days, only righteous judgment can classify man and bring man into a new realm. In this way, the entire age is brought to an end through God’s righteous disposition of judgment and chastisement” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

“Do you understand now what is judgment and what is truth? If you have understood, then I exhort you to submit obediently to being judged, otherwise you shall never have the opportunity to be commended by God or to be brought by Him into His kingdom. Those who only accept judgment but can never be purified, that is, those who flee in the midst of the work of judgment, shall forever be detested and rejected by God. Their sins are more numerous, and more grievous, than those of the Pharisees, for they have betrayed God and are rebels against God. Such men who are not worthy even to do service shall receive more severe punishment, a punishment that is moreover everlasting. God shall not spare any traitor who once evinced loyalty with words but then betrayed Him. Men like these shall receive retribution through punishment of the spirit, soul, and body. Is this not precisely a revelation of the righteous disposition of God? Is this not God’s purpose in judging man, and revealing him? God consigns all those who perform all kinds of wicked deeds during the time of judgment to a place infested with evil spirits, letting these evil spirits destroy their fleshly bodies at will. Their bodies give off the stench of corpses, and such is their fitting retribution. God writes down in their record books each and every one of the sins of those disloyal false believers, false apostles, and false workers; then, when the time is right, He casts them amidst the unclean spirits, letting these unclean spirits defile their entire bodies at will, so that they may never be reincarnated and never again see the light. Those hypocrites who did service at one time but are unable to remain loyal to the end are numbered by God among the wicked, so that they walk in the counsel of the wicked and become part of their disorderly rabble; in the end, God shall annihilate them. God casts aside and takes no notice of those who have never been loyal to Christ or dedicated any effort, and shall annihilate them all in the change of ages. They shall no longer exist on earth, much less gain passage into the kingdom of God. Those who have never been sincere to God but are forced by circumstance into dealing with Him perfunctorily are numbered among those who do service for His people. Only a small number of such men can survive, while the majority shall perish along with those who are not qualified even to do service. Finally, God shall bring into His kingdom all those who are of the same mind as God, the people and the sons of God as well as those predestined by God to be priests. Such is the distillate obtained by God through His work. As for those who are unable to fall into any of the categories set by God, they shall be numbered among the unbelievers. And you can surely imagine what their outcome shall be. I have already said to you all that I should say; the road that you choose shall be your decision to make. What you should understand is this: The work of God never waits for any that cannot keep pace with Him, and the righteous disposition of God shows no mercy to any man” (“Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh).

After reading the words of Almighty God, aren’t you all clearer as to how God does His work of judgment in the last days? If God did not reveal and state this openly, how could we have any insight? In the last days Almighty God utters the truth and does His work of judgment. His words reveal the essence and the true state of the deep corruption of mankind; they completely expose every manifestation of man’s resistance to God and man’s imbuement with the disposition of Satan, and they display to mankind God’s unoffendable disposition of holiness and righteousness. We have recognized from the judgment of Almighty God’s words the nature of Satan within us that resists and rebels against God, and have seen our conceit, our self-importance and our deceit and that in all respects we betray the disposition of Satan. Though we have expended a little for God, suffered a little, and paid a small price, we are exploiting God and trading with Him for rewards and entry into the kingdom of heaven; we treat God without conscience or reason, without even a modicum of love or obedience. Do we resemble humans when we live like this? We have simply become living ghosts, beasts; we have seen our own sordid ugliness, and our hearts are in great pain for it and filled with shame. In the revelation and judgment of God’s words, we see that God sees into everything, and we fear and tremble in our hearts when we feel His immense holiness, righteousness and that His disposition is unoffendable. As someone who is Satan’s kind, we feel too ashamed to look upon God, and unworthy of living before Him; we throw ourselves to the ground and cry bitterly with regret, even curse ourselves, and strike our own mouths, praying that God will judge us more severely, cleanse and change us; we no longer wish to live with the disposition of Satan. We begin to practice truth, and pursue truth. Without our knowing we have experienced many things, and have understood some truths, and have gained some true knowledge of God. A shift in our way of looking at things occurs. Change begins to occur in our life disposition, and in our heart emerges real fear of and obedience to God; we do not try again to trade with God, we can faithfully do our part in reciprocating God’s love and start to live as a real human. Having traveled this road, we truly feel that were it not for the judgment and chastisement of the words of God, we would never have seen the true picture of our deep corruption by Satan, we would never have known the source of our sinning against and resisting God, and even less would we have known how to free ourselves from the bonds of sin and its rule over us to become fearful of and obedient to God. We feel that were it not for the strict judgment of the words of God, we could not know His righteous, majestic and unoffendable disposition; nor could we grow a heart that fears God, and nor could we become someone who fears God and shuns evil. This is a fact. If God did not incarnate, who could do the work of judgment in the last days? Who could show to man God’s holy, righteous, and unoffendable disposition? If God did not incarnate, whose words would have such power and authority to be able to judge us, cleanse us, and save us in our deep corruption from sin? Almighty God’s words and work completely show His status and identity as God, and show Him to be the Creator, and the manifestation of the one true God! We have recognized the voice of God in the speech of Almighty God, and seen God’s manifestation.

from Answers to Screenplay Questions