Without a close reading, it is impossible to detect anything in the utterances of these two days; in fact, they should have been spoken in one day, yet God divided them across two days. That is to say, the utterances of these two days form a single whole, but to make it easier for people to accept them, God divided them across two days to give people a chance to breathe. Such is God’s consideration for man. In all of God’s work, all people perform their function and their duty in their own place. It is not just the people with the spirit of an angel who cooperate; those with the spirit of a demon also “cooperate,” as do all the spirits of Satan. In God’s utterances are seen God’s will and His requirements of man.
The words “My chastisement comes upon all people, yet it also remains distant from all people. Each life of every person is filled with love and hate toward Me” show that God uses chastisement to threaten all people, causing them to gain knowledge of Him. Because of the corruption of Satan and the frailty of the angels, God employs only words, and not administrative decrees, to chastise people. Since the time of creation until today, this has been the principle of God’s work regarding the angels and all people. Because the angels are of God, one day they shall surely become the people of God’s kingdom, and will be cared for and protected by God. All others, meanwhile, will also be classed according to kind, all of the various evil spirits of Satan will be chastised, and all who are without spirits will be ruled by the sons and people of God. Such is God’s plan. Thus, God once said “Is the arrival of My day really the moment of man’s death? Could I really destroy man at the time when My kingdom is formed?” Though these are two simple questions, they are God’s arrangements for the destination of all mankind. When God arrives—at the moment when “people throughout the universe are nailed to the cross upside down”—this is the aim that God appears to all people, using chastisement to make them know the existence of God. Because the time that God descends upon earth is the final age, and the time when the countries on earth are at their most turbulent, thus God says “When I come down to earth, it is cloaked in darkness and man is ‘fast asleep.’” As such, today there are but a handful of people who are capable of knowing God incarnate, there are almost none. Because now is the final age, no one has ever truly known the practical God, and people only have a superficial knowledge of God. And it is because of this that people live amid the painful refinement. When people leave refinement is also when they begin to be chastised, it is the time when God appears to all people so that they might personally behold Him. Because of God incarnate, people fall into disaster, and are unable to extricate themselves—which is God’s punishment of the great red dragon, and His administrative decree. When the warmth of spring arrives and the flowers blossom, when all beneath the heavens is covered in green and all things on earth are in place, all people and things shall gradually enter into God’s chastisement, and at that time all of God’s work on earth will end. God shall no longer work or live on earth, for God’s great work will have been accomplished. Are people incapable of putting aside their flesh for this short time? What things can cleave the love between man and God? Who is able to pull apart the love between man and God? Is it parents, husbands, sisters, wives, or painful refinement? Can the feelings of conscience wipe away God’s image within man? Are people’s indebtedness and actions toward each other their own doing? Can they be remedied by man? Who is able to protect themselves? Are people able to provide for themselves? Who are the strong ones in life? Who is able to leave Me and live on their own? Time and time again, why does God ask that all people carry out the work of self-reflection? Why does God say, “whose hardship has been arranged by their own hand?”
At present, there is dark night throughout the universe, and people are callous and dull-witted, but the hour hands always tick onward, the minutes and seconds do not stop, and the revolutions of the earth, sun, and moon grow faster. In their feelings, people believe that the day is not far off, as if their last day is before their eyes. People ceaselessly prepare everything for their own time of death, so that it will serve a purpose at their death; if not, they would have lived in vain, and is that not regrettable? When God annihilates the world, He begins with changes in countries’ domestic affairs, from which there occur coups; thus, God mobilizes the service of people throughout the universe. The land where the great red dragon lies coiled is a demonstration zone. Because, internally, it has been torn apart, its domestic affairs have been thrown into chaos, everyone does the work of self-defense, preparing to escape to the moon—but how could they escape the dominion of God’s hand? Just as God said that people will “drink from their own bitter cup.” The time of domestic strife is precisely when God departs the earth; God will not continue to “stay” in the country of the great red dragon, and shall immediately end His work on earth. It can be said that time flies, and there is not much left. From the tone of God’s words it can be seen that God has already spoken of the destination of all throughout the universe, that He has nothing else to say for the remainder. This is what God reveals to man. It is because of God’s aim in creating man that He says “In My eyes, man is the ruler of all things. I have given him no small amount of authority, allowing him to manage all things on earth—the grass upon the mountains, the animals among the forests, and the fish in the water.” When God created man, He predestined that man would be the master of all things—yet man was corrupted by Satan, and so he cannot live as he would wish. This has led to the world of today, in which people are no different from beasts, and the mountains have mingled with the rivers, with the result that “His entire life is one of anguish, and rushing about, and fun added to emptiness.” Because there is no meaning to man’s life, and because this was not God’s aim in creating man, the whole world has become turbid. When God puts the entire universe in order, all people shall officially begin to experience human life, and only then will their lives start to have meaning. People will begin to make use of the authority given to them by God, they will officially appear before all things as their master, and they will accept God’s guidance on earth, and will no longer disobey God but obey God. The people of today, however, are a long way off that. All they ever do is “line their pockets” through God, and so God asks a string of questions such as “Is the work I do upon man of no benefit to him?” If God did not ask these questions, nothing would happen; but when He asks such things, some people are unable to stand firm, for there is indebtedness in their consciences, and they are not purely for God, but for themselves. All of everything is empty; thus, these people and the “people of every sect, sphere of society, nation, and denomination all know the emptiness on earth, and they all seek Me and await My return.” All people yearn for God’s return so that He might bring an end to the empty old era, yet they also fear falling into disaster. The entire religious world will immediately be left desolate, and neglected by all; they lack reality, and they will realize that their belief in God is vague and abstract. People of every sphere of society shall also disperse, and every nation and denomination will begin to fall into turmoil. In sum, the regularity of all things shall be torn apart, all will lose its normality, and so, too, will people reveal their true faces. Thus God says, “Many are the times that I have ‘cried out’ to man, yet has anyone ever felt compassion? Has anyone ever lived in humanity? Man may live in the flesh, but he is without humanity. Was he born in the animal kingdom?” Change is also occurring among man, and because of this change each is classed according to kind. This is God’s work during the last days, and the effect that is to be achieved by the work of the last days. The more clearly God speaks of man’s essence, thus is proven that the end of His work is coming closer, and furthermore that God is more hidden from people, which makes them feel more disconcerted. The less people observe God’s will, the less attention they pay to God’s work of the last days; this stops them from interrupting, and thus God does the work that He intends to do when no one is paying attention. This is one principle of God’s work throughout the ages. The less considerate He is of people’s weaknesses, thus is shown that God’s divinity is more apparent, and so the day of God draws closer.
from The Word Appears in the Flesh
No comments:
Post a Comment