"The Substance of Christ Is Obedience to the Will of the Heavenly Father" (Selected Passage)

"The Substance of Christ Is Obedience to the Will of the Heavenly Father" (Selected Passage)

Almighty God says, "The incarnate God is called Christ, and Christ is the flesh donned by the Spirit of God. This flesh is unlike any man that is of the flesh. This difference is because Christ is not of flesh and blood but is the incarnation of the Spirit. He has both a normal humanity and a complete divinity. His divinity is not possessed by any man. His normal humanity sustains all His normal activities in the flesh, while His divinity carries out the work of God Himself. Be it His humanity or divinity, both submit to the will of the heavenly Father. The substance of Christ is the Spirit, that is, the divinity. Therefore, His substance is that of God Himself; this substance will not interrupt His own work, and He could not possibly do anything that destroys His own work, nor would He ever utter any words that go against His own will. Therefore, the incarnate God would absolutely never do any work that interrupts His own management. This is what all man should understand. The essence of the work of the Holy Spirit is to save man and is for the sake of God’s own management. Similarly, the work of Christ is to save man and is for the sake of God’s will. Given that God becomes flesh, He realizes His substance within His flesh, such that His flesh is sufficient to undertake His work. Therefore, all the work of God’s Spirit is replaced by the work of Christ during the time of incarnation, and at the core of all work throughout the time of incarnation is the work of Christ. It cannot be commingled with work from any other age. And since God becomes flesh, He works in the identity of His flesh; since He comes in the flesh, He then finishes in the flesh the work that He ought to do. Be it the Spirit of God or be it Christ, both are God Himself, and He does the work that He ought to do and performs the ministry that He ought to perform."

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Almighty God's word "How Is Your Relationship With God"

How Is Your Relationship With God

In believing in God, you must at least resolve the issue of having a normal relationship with God. Without a normal relationship with God, then the significance in believing in God is lost. Establishing a normal relationship with God is entirely attained through quieting your heart in God’s presence. A normal relationship with God means being able to not doubt or deny any of God’s work and submit to it, and furthermore it means having the right intentions in the presence of God, not thinking of yourself, always having the interests of God’s family as the most important thing no matter what you are doing, accepting God’s observation, and submitting to God’s arrangements. You are able to quiet your heart in God’s presence whenever you do anything; even if you do not understand God’s will, you must still fulfill your duties and responsibilities to the best of your ability. It is not too late to wait for God’s will to be revealed to you and then put this into practice. When your relationship with God has become normal, then you will also have a normal relationship with people. Everything is established on the foundation of God’s words. Through eating and drinking the words of God, practice in accordance with God’s requirements, put your viewpoints right, and do not do things that resist God or disturb the church. Do not do things that do not benefit the lives of the brothers and sisters, do not say things that do not contribute to other people, do not do shameful things. Be just and honorable when doing all things and make them presentable before God. Even though the flesh is weak sometimes, you are able to attach the highest importance to benefiting God’s family, not covet your own benefits, and carry out righteousness. If you can practice in this way, your relationship with God will be normal.

Whenever you do anything, you must examine whether your motivations are right. If you are able to act according to the requirements of God, then your relationship with God is normal. This is the minimum criterion. If, when you examine your motivations, there emerge those that are incorrect, and if you are able to turn your back on them and act according to the words of God, then you will become someone who is right before God, which will show that your relationship with God is normal, and that all that you do is for the sake of God, and not for yourself. Whenever you do or say anything, you must put your heart right, be righteous, and not be led by your emotions, or act according to your own will. These are the principles by which believers in God conduct themselves. A person’s motivations and stature can be revealed in a small thing, and thus, for people to enter onto the path of being made perfect by God, they must first resolve their own motivations and their relationship with God. Only when your relationship with God is normal will you be able to be made perfect by God, and only then will God’s dealing, pruning, discipline, and refinement in you be able to achieve their desired effect. That is to say, people are able to have God in their hearts, not seek personal benefits, not think about their personal future (referring to thinking of the flesh), but rather they bear the burden of entering life, do their best to seek truth, and submit to God’s work. This way, the objectives you seek are correct, and your relationship with God is normal. It can be said that fixing one’s relationship with God is the first step on entry into one’s spiritual journey. Although man’s destiny is in God’s hands, and has been predestined by God, and cannot be changed by themselves, whether or not you can be made perfect or gained by God depends on whether or not your relationship with God is normal. Perhaps there are parts of you that are weak or disobedient—but as long as your outlook is right and your motivations are correct, and as long as you have put right your relationship with God and made it normal, then you will be qualified to be made perfect by God. If you do not have the right relationship with God, and act for the sake of the flesh, or your family, then regardless of how hard you work it will all be for nothing. If your relationship with God is normal, then everything else will fall into place. God looks at nothing else, but He looks only at whether your views on the belief in God are right: who you believe in, for whose sake you believe, and why you believe. If you are able to see these things clearly, and are able to put right your views and practice, then your life will make progress, and you are sure to be able to enter onto the right track. If your relationship with God is not normal, and your views on the belief in God are deviant, then these will preclude all else. No matter how you believe in God, you will gain nothing. Only if your relationship with God is normal will you be approved by God when you turn your back on the flesh, pray, suffer, endure, obey, help your brothers and sisters, devote more effort to God, and so on. Whether or not something you do has value and significance depends on whether your intentions are right and whether your viewpoints are correct. Nowadays, many people’s belief in God is like looking at a clock with their head turned to one side—their viewpoints are deviant. Everything will be good if a breakthrough can be made here, everything will be fine if this is resolved, while everything shall come to nothing if this is not resolved. Some people behave well in My presence, but behind My back all that they do is resist. These are crooked and deceitful manifestations and this type of person is a servant of Satan, they are the typical embodiment of Satan to test God. You are only a right person if you are able to submit to My work and My words. As long as you are able to eat and drink the words of God, as long as everything you do is presentable before God, everything you do is just and honorable, as long as you do not do shameful things, do not do things that would harm the lives of people, as long as you live in the light, and are not exploited by Satan, then your relationship with God will be put right.

In believing in God, your intentions and viewpoints must be put right; you must have a correct understanding and correct treatment of the words of God, God’s work, the environments arranged by God, the man testified by God, and of the practical God. You must not practice according to your personal thoughts, or make your own little plans. You must be able to seek truth in everything and stand in your place as a creation of God and submit to all of God’s work. If you want to pursue being perfected by God and enter into the right track of life, then your heart must always live in God’s presence, not be dissolute, not follow Satan, not leave Satan any opportunities to do its work, and not let Satan use you. You must completely give yourself to God and let God rule over you.

Are you willing to be Satan’s servant? Are you willing to be exploited by Satan? Do you believe in God and pursue God so that you can be perfected by Him, or is it so you become a foil in God’s work? Are you willing to be obtained by God and live a meaningful life, or are you willing to live a worthless and empty life? Are you willing to be used by God, or exploited by Satan? Are you willing to let God’s words and truth fill you, or let sin and Satan fill you? Consider and weigh this out. In your daily life, you must grasp those words you say and those things you do that will cause your relationship with God to be abnormal, then rectify yourself and enter into the correct manner. Examine your words, your actions, your each and every move, and your thoughts and ideas at all times. Grasp your true state and enter into the way of the work of the Holy Spirit. Only in this way can you have a normal relationship with God. By weighing out whether your relationship with God is normal, you will be able to rectify your intentions, understand the essence of man, and understand yourself; through this, you will be able to enter into real experiences, truly forsake yourself, and achieve deliberate submission. In such matters as when you are experiencing whether your relationship with God is normal, you will be able to find opportunities to be perfected by God, you will be able to understand many situations under which the Holy Spirit is working, and you will be able to see through many of Satan’s tricks and conspiracies. Only through this way can you be perfected by God. You put right your relationship with God so that you will submit yourself to all the arrangements of God. It is so you will more deeply enter into real experiences, and obtain more work of the Holy Spirit. When you are practicing having a normal relationship with God, most of the time, you will attain this through forsaking the flesh and through your real cooperation with God. You should understand that “without a cooperative heart, it is difficult to receive the work of God; if the flesh does not suffer hardships, there are no blessings from God; if the spirit does not struggle, Satan will not be ashamed.” If you practice and clearly understand these principles, your viewpoints on the faith in God will be put right. In your current practices, you must discard the viewpoint of “seeking bread to satisfy hunger,” you must discard the viewpoint of “everything is done by the Holy Spirit and people are unable to intervene.” People who speak this way all think, “People can do whatever they are willing to do, and when the time comes the Holy Spirit will work and people will have no need to overcome the flesh, they will have no need to cooperate, and only need the Holy Spirit to move them.” These viewpoints are all absurd. Under these circumstances, the Holy Spirit is unable to work. It is this kind of viewpoint that becomes a great obstruction to the work of the Holy Spirit. Often times, the work of the Holy Spirit is attained through people’s cooperation. Without cooperation and resolution, then wanting to change one’s disposition, obtain the work of the Holy Spirit, and obtain enlightenment and illumination from God are all extravagant thoughts; this is called “indulging one’s self and pardoning Satan.” People like this do not have a normal relationship with God. You have found many manifestations of Satan in yourself, and in your past actions, there are many things that have run counter to God’s current requirements. Are you able to forsake them now? Attain a normal relationship with God, do according to God’s intentions, become a new person and have a new life, don’t look back at past transgressions, don’t be overly remorseful, be able to stand up and cooperate with God, and fulfill the duties that you should perform. This way, your relationship with God will be normal.

If you merely accept these words verbally after reading them but are not moved in your heart, and are not serious about having a normal relationship with God, then it proves that you do not attach importance to your relationship with God, your viewpoints have not yet been put right, your intentions are still not directed at allowing God to obtain you, and allowing God the glory, but rather are directed at allowing Satan’s conspiracies to prevail and for obtaining your personal purposes. This kind of people all have incorrect intentions and viewpoints. Regardless of what God has said or how it is said, they are indifferent and no transformation can be seen. Their hearts don’t feel any fear and they are unashamed. This kind of person is a confused person without a spirit. For every utterance of God, after you have read it and you have gained an understanding, you shall put it into practice. Regardless of how you used to practice before—perhaps in the past your flesh was weak, you were rebellious, and you resisted—this is not a big deal, and it can’t obstruct your life from growing today. As long as you are able to have a normal relationship with God today, then there is hope. If for every time that you read God’s words, you have changes and allow other people to see that your life has transformed for the better, it shows that you have a normal relationship with God and that it is put right. God does not treat people based on their transgressions. As long as you are able to not rebel again and not resist again after you have understood and are aware, then God will still have mercy on you. When you have this understanding and the will to pursue being perfected by God, then your condition in God’s presence will be normal. No matter what you do, consider: What will God think if I do this? How will it affect the brothers and sisters? Examine your intentions in your prayer, fellowship, speech, work, and contact with people, and examine whether your relationship with God is normal or not. If you are unable to distinguish your intentions and thoughts, then you have no discrimination, which proves that you understand too little about truth. Have a clear understanding of everything that God does, see things according to God’s word and see things by standing on the side of God. This way your viewpoints will be correct. Therefore, to build a good relationship with God is a top priority for anyone believing in God; everyone should treat it as the most important task and as their major life event. Everything you do should be weighed against whether or not you have a normal relationship with God. If your relationship with God is normal and your intentions are correct, then do it. In order to maintain a normal relationship with God, you can’t be afraid of losing out on personal interests, you can’t allow Satan to prevail, you can’t allow Satan to have a handle on you, and you can’t allow Satan to make you into a laughing stock. Such an intention is a manifestation that your relationship with God is normal. It is not for the flesh, but rather it is for peace of spirit, it is for obtaining the work of the Holy Spirit and for satisfying the will of God. If you are to enter into a correct state, you must build a good relationship with God, you must set right your viewpoint of belief in God. It is to allow God to obtain you, to allow God to reveal the fruits of His words in you, and to enlighten and illuminate you even more. This way you will enter into the correct manner. Continuously eat and drink God’s current words, enter into the current way of the Holy Spirit’s work, do according to God’s current requirements, not follow old-fashioned practices, not cling to old ways of doing things, and quickly enter into the manner of today’s work. This way your relationship with God will be completely normal and you will enter into the right track of believing in God.

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Inspirational Stories: Woe to the Conservative!

Inspirational Stories: Woe to the Conservative!

Xiaowen

There is an ancient Chinese story called “Carving the Boat to Seek the Sword.” It goes like this: During the Spring-Autumn and Warring States periods, when a man from the state of Chu was crossing a river, his sword dropped into the water. He hurriedly carved a mark on gunwale. And after the boat came alongside the bank, he jumped into the water to seek his sword from where he had made the mark. Seeing this scene, people burst into an uproar: The sword doesn’t move but the boat has sailed away. Isn’t it too foolish to seek the sword in this way? The lesson of the story is that things are constantly changing and developing forward, and so if man views things as static and through conservative eyes, he will ultimately gain nothing.

Perhaps you deem that it is simply a ridiculous story and there is no such a foolish man in real life. But is it really the case? The answer is no, because such a story has been repeatedly presented in the history of human development, making numerous sinners of all time.

Two thousand years ago, that is, at the end of the Age of Law, the people became ever more degenerate and were in the danger of being sentenced to death by the law for committing sins. Jehovah God saw that. He loved the world. Therefore, He concluded the work of the Age of Law and was incarnated as the Son of man in the human world to do the work of redeeming mankind under the name of Jesus, so that man could continue to exist. During His work, the Lord Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of heaven throughout the land, forgave man’s sins, healed the sick, cast out demons, and so on. He displayed numerous signs and wonders, which caused an uproar throughout the Jewish state. A lot of people saw, heard, and also spoke of the Lord’s great power and authority, from which many people recognized that the Lord Jesus was the coming Messiah, the ever-existing God Himself with unique authority and power, and thus accepted Him as their God and received His salvation. The chief priests, scribes, and Pharisees of the religious community also heard the preachings given by the Lord Jesus and saw His extraordinary power and authority, but they simply clung to their own conceptions and imaginations, believing that God’s work was forever unchanging and could only remain in the Age of Law, and that God’s name would always be Jehovah, because God once said, “I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no savior” (Isaiah 43:11). They thought that when God came back, He should only be called Messiah rather than Jesus. Therefore, they unscrupulously opposed and condemned the Lord Jesus’ work on the pretext that the name of the Lord Jesus was not that of the Messiah who was prophesied to come and His work transcended the laws of the Old Testament, treated Him as their enemy, and condemned His words with authority as blasphemies. And they blasphemed the Lord Jesus, saying, “This fellow does not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils” (Matthew 12:24), so as to deceive the ignorant people. As a consequence, the people rose up to oppose, defy, and condemn the Lord Jesus, and eventually crucified the merciful Lord Jesus alive—committed a heinous crime—and provoked the righteous disposition of God. Ultimately, the Jews were expelled from Israel and fled to countries around the world.

In the last days, God becomes flesh again and does the work of judgment beginning with God’s family under the name of Almighty God. He expresses a variety of truths to judge and purify man, and brings mankind the way of casting aside their corrupt disposition. Many people who truly thirst for God’s appearance are certain that Almighty God is actually the returned Lord Jesus through reading His words online, and watching the Church of Almighty God’s videos of hymns and gospel movies, and more. More and more people havereturned under the name of Almighty God. They are being led and shepherded by Almighty God andenjoying the provision of the truth and life bestowed by God, and their life disposition is being transformed gradually. However, some religious people still hold on to the work done by God in the Age of Grace and deny and reject God’s salvation in the last days when they know that Almighty God brings a new age, the Age of Kingdom, does the work of judgment with the word, and no longer heals the sick and casts out demons, andthat God’s name has changed, is no longer the Lord Jesus but Almighty God. They believe that when God comes again, He should still do the work of healing the sick, casting out demons, and forgiving man’s sins, and His name should still be the Lord Jesus, because the Scripture says, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8), and “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). They think that only by trusting in and keeping the name of the Lord Jesus, can they enter the kingdom of heaven and gain the eternal life. So they blaspheme, slander, condemn, and oppose Almighty God on the grounds that departure from the Lord’s name and way is a betrayal of the Lord, and they spread various fallacies to deceive and control people and hinder them from seeking and investigating the true way. Besides, they abuse and driveout the brothers and sisters preaching Almighty God’s gospel of the last days, and even call the police and collude with the CCP government to arrest the brothers and sisters from the Church of Almighty God.

The Lord Jesus said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name? and in your name have cast out devils? and in your name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity” (Matthew 7:22-23). As for those who have preached, cast out devils, and done many wonderful works in the Lord’s name, why will the Lord Jesus say that He never knew them and condemn them? The reason is that because of their ignorance of God’s work which is always new and never old and continues to advance, and moreover, because of their arrogance and self-righteousness and obstinately holding to themselves, when they hear the Lord Jesus has returned to flesh and done the work of judgment andchastisement under the name of Almighty God, they not only have no intention of seeking, but alsomisinterpret the Bible out of context, and openly oppose and condemn Almighty God’s work in the last days. That’s why God will call them evildoers. And their ending is self-evident.

Today, people in the religious world awaiting the return of the Lord Jesus are just like the man who made a notch on the boat to mark where his sword had fallen overboard. They neither seek nor investigate the words and work of the returned Lord Jesus—Almighty God, but oppose and condemn them, and nail God to the cross again. They repeat the historical tragedy of the Jewish people who awaited the coming Messiah yet opposed and condemned and crucified the Lord Jesus, which eventually led to the destruction of their nation. Isn’t this worth thinking deeply about?

Almighty God says, “In each age, God does new work and is called by a new name; how could He do the same work in different ages? How could He cling to the old? The name of Jesus was taken for the work of redemption, so would He still be called by the same name when He returns in the last days? Would He still do the work of redemption? Why is it that Jehovah and Jesus are one, yet They are called by different names in different ages? Is it not because Their work in these ages is different? Could a single name represent God in His entirety? In this way, God must be called by a different name in a different age, must use the name to change the age and represent the age, for no one name can fully represent God Himself. And each name can only represent God’s disposition during a certain age and needs only to represent His work. Therefore, God can choose whatever name befits His disposition to represent the entire age. … There are those who say that God is immutable. That is correct, but it refers to the immutability of God’s disposition and substance. Changes in His name and work do not prove that His substance has altered; in other words, God will always be God, and this will never change. … God is not as simple as man imagines, and His work will not stop in one age. Jehovah, for example, will not always stand for the name of God; God also does His work under the name of Jesus, which is a symbol of how God’s work is always progressing forward” (“The Vision of God’s Work (3)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh). From Almighty God’s words, we can see that God is always new and never old; because of the change in era, God must take a new name to represent His disposition and His work in that age; and although God’s way of working and His name change, His substance and righteous disposition will never change. When God did the work of the Age of Law under the name of Jehovah, He expressed the disposition of wrath and curse, making people at that time know what was sin; when the Lord Jesus came, He condemned and cursed those Pharisees who served God but opposed Him, saying, “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” (Matthew 23:13), allowing people to see that God not only possessed the disposition of love and mercy, but also revealed majestic and wrathful disposition to the enemy force opposing Him; and Almighty God—the returned Lord Jesus—expresses more of His righteous and majestic disposition in the last days. He expresses the truth to judge man and reveal the facts and truth of man’s corruption by Satan, so that man can get rid of sin, gradually be cleansed and changed, know God’s righteous disposition, and have reverence for Him through experiencing His work in the last days. This type of work from God is all to make man know more of His disposition, what He has and is, and His wisdom and almightiness, be more obedient to and reverent of Him and thus satisfy His will.

Therefore, when it comes to a major issue concerning the Lord’s coming, if man always sticks to his own belief, regards his own conceptions as the truth and God’s intention, stubbornly clings to the wrong viewpoints such as “The Lord Jesus Christ’s name will never change,” and “Any departure from the Lord’s name is a betrayal of the true way,” and defines God’s name and His work by a set of rules, he will never meet the Lord’s return, but ultimately be forsaken by God and fall into the darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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