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Bible Verses for Reference:
“When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies in them; for his iniquity that he has done shall he die. Again, when the wicked man turns away from his wickedness that he has committed, and does that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. Because he considers, and turns away from all his transgressions that he has committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die” (Eze 18:26–28).
“And the word of Jehovah came to Jonah the second time, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the preaching that I bid you. So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the word of Jehovah. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came to the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God: yes, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from His fierce anger, that we perish not? And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that He had said that He would do to them; and He did it not” (Jon 3:1–10).
Relevant Words of God:
The purpose of God’s work on man is to enable them to meet God’s will, and it is done to bring them salvation. Therefore, during the time of His salvation of man, He does not do the work of punishing them. While bringing salvation to man, God does not punish evil or reward good, nor does He reveal the destinations of various kinds of people. Rather, only after the final stage of His work is complete will He do the work of punishing evil and rewarding good, and only then will He reveal the ends of all the different sorts of people. Those who are punished will be those who are actually unable to be saved, while those who are saved will be those who have obtained God’s salvation during the time of His salvation of man. While God’s work of salvation is being done, every single person who can be saved will be saved as far as possible, and none of them discarded, for the purpose of God’s work is to save man. All those who, during the time of God’s salvation of man, are unable to achieve a change in their disposition—as well as all those who are unable to submit to God completely—will become objects for punishment. This stage of work—the work of words—will unlock for people all of the ways and mysteries that they do not understand, so that they can understand the will of God and God’s requirements of them, and so that they can have the prerequisites to put God’s words into practice and achieve changes in their disposition. God uses only words to do His work and does not punish people for being a little rebellious; this is because now is the time of the work of salvation. If anyone who acts rebelliously were punished, then no one would have the opportunity to be saved; everyone would be punished and fall into Hades. The purpose of words that judge man is to allow them to know themselves and submit to God; it is not to punish them with such judgment. During the time of the work of words, many people will expose their rebelliousness and defiance, as well as their disobedience toward the incarnate God. Nevertheless, He will not punish all these people as a result, but instead will only cast aside those who are corrupt to the core and who cannot be saved. He will give their flesh to Satan, and, in a few cases, terminate their flesh. Those remaining will continue to follow and experience being dealt with and pruned. If, while following, these people still are unable to accept being dealt with and pruned, and become more and more degenerate, then they will have lost their chance for salvation. Each person who has submitted to being conquered by words will have ample opportunity for salvation; God’s salvation of each of these people will show His utmost leniency. In other words, they will be shown the utmost tolerance. As long as people turn back from the wrong path, and as long as they can repent, God will give them opportunities to obtain His salvation. When humans first rebel against God, He has no desire to put them to death; rather, He does all He can to save them. If someone really has no room for salvation, then God will cast them aside. The reason God is slow to punish certain people is that He wishes to save everyone who can be saved. He judges, enlightens, and guides people only with words, and does not use a rod to put them to death. Employing words to bring humans salvation is the purpose and significance of the final stage of work.
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. You Should Put Aside the Blessings of Status and Understand God’s Will to Bring Salvation to Man
“Blasphemy and slander against God is a sin that will not be forgiven in this age or the coming age, and those who commit this sin will never be reincarnated.” This means that God’s disposition does not tolerate being offended by man. When in a situation they do not understand, or when they are deceived, controlled, or suppressed by others, some people might speak words that are unkind or ugly. Later, however, once they have accepted the true way, they become filled with regret. They then prepare enough good deeds, and they attain knowledge and undergo change in this matter, and so God does not dwell on any previous transgressions of theirs. You should know God fully, you should know whom it is that those words of God are directed at, as well as their context, and you should not randomly apply or arbitrarily define the words of God. People who have no experience do not measure themselves against God’s words in anything, whereas those with a little experience or some insight tend to be oversensitive. When they hear utterances from God that curse, or that loathe and eliminate people, they take it all upon themselves indiscriminately. This shows that they do not understand God’s words, and are always misunderstanding Him. Some people pass judgment on God before they have read any of His new utterances, made any investigations, heard any fellowship from people who understand God’s new work, or, much less, gained any enlightenment of the Holy Spirit. Thereafter, someone preaches the gospel to them, and they accept it. They later feel regret at having passed judgment on God, and they wish to repent. After that, it just depends on how they behave in the future. If, after they have come to have faith, their behavior is particularly bad, and they write themselves off, saying, “Well, I have spoken blasphemous and ugly words before, after all, and God has declared that people like me will be condemned—so my life is over,” then such people really are finished.
—“On What Basis Does God Treat People?” in Records of Christ’s Talks
Some people who have committed a small transgression wonder: “Has God exposed me and cast me out? Will He strike me down?” This time, God has come to work not in order to smite people, but to save them to the greatest extent possible. Who is entirely free of error? If everyone were struck down, then how could it be “salvation”? Some transgressions are done on purpose, while others are done involuntarily. If you are able to change after you recognize the transgressions you commit involuntarily, would God strike you down before you changed? Can God save people that way? That is not how He works! Regardless of whether you transgress involuntarily or out of a rebellious nature, you must remember that, once the transgression has been committed, you must hurry up and wake up to reality, and press onward; no matter what situation arises, you must press onward. The work God is doing is that of salvation, and He will not casually strike down the people He wants to save. Regardless of the degree to which you are capable of transforming, even if God struck you down in the end, it would certainly be righteous for Him to do so; and when the time came, He would make you understand. Right now, you should care about striving for the truth, focusing on life entry, and seeking to fulfill your duty properly. There is no mistake in this! Ultimately, no matter how God treats you, it is always righteous; you should not doubt this and you do not need to worry. Even if you cannot understand God’s righteousness at the moment, there will come a day when you will be convinced. God is certainly not like a government official or the king of devils. If you apply careful contemplation to this subject, you will come to the conclusion that God’s work is saving people and transforming their dispositions. Since His work is the work of transforming people’s dispositions, if people do not reveal their corruption, then nothing can be done, and nothing will be achieved. If, after you have revealed your corruption, you do not repent in the least, and act still as you have, then you will offend God’s disposition. God will carry out different degrees of retribution on man, and man will pay the price for his transgressions. …
As previously mentioned, events of the past can be wiped clean at a stroke; the future can be made to supersede the past; God’s tolerance is as boundless as the sea. Yet there are also principles to these words. It is not the case that God will wipe clean any sin you have committed, no matter how great. All the work of God has principles. In the past, an administrative decree was set that addresses this issue—God forgives and pardons all sins one commits before accepting His name, and there is a system to address those who continue to sin after having entered the church: One who commits a minor sin is given the chance to repent, while repeat offenders are expelled. God has always tolerated people to the greatest extent possible in His work, and, in this, it can be seen that God’s work is truly the work of saving people. However, if, in this final stage of work, you yet commit unpardonable sins, then you are truly irredeemable, and you cannot change.
—“God’s Will Is to Save People to the Greatest Extent Possible” in Records of Christ’s Talks
Many are those who oppose God, but among them there are also many different ways in which they oppose God. As there are all manner of believers, so too are there all manner of those who oppose God, each unlike the other. Not a single one of those who fail to recognize clearly the purpose of God’s work can be saved. Regardless of how man may have opposed God in the past, when man comes to understand the purpose of God’s work and dedicates his efforts to satisfying God, God will wipe clean all of his former sins. As long as man seeks the truth and practices the truth, God will not keep in mind what he has done. Moreover, it is on the basis of man’s practice of the truth that God justifies him. This is the righteousness of God. Before man has seen God or experienced His work, regardless of how man acts toward God, He does not keep it in mind. However, once man has seen God and experienced His work, all the deeds and actions of man will be entered by God into the “annals,” for man has seen God and lived amid His work.
When man has truly seen what God has and is, when he has seen His supremacy, and when he has truly come to know the work of God, and furthermore, when the old disposition of man is changed, then man will have completely cast away his rebellious disposition that opposes God. It can be said that everyone has at some time opposed God and everyone has at some time rebelled against God. However, if you willingly obey the incarnate God, and from this point satisfy God’s heart with your loyalty, practice the truth that you ought, perform your duty as you ought, and keep the regulations that you ought, then you are one who is willing to cast away your rebelliousness to satisfy God and one who can be perfected by God. Should you stubbornly refuse to see your errors and have no intention of repenting yourself, should you persist in your rebellious conduct without the least intention of cooperating with God and satisfying Him, then such an obstinate and incorrigible person as you will certainly be punished and will certainly never be one to be perfected by God. This being so, you are the enemy of God today and tomorrow you will also be the enemy of God, and so too will you remain the enemy of God the day after; you will forever be an opponent of God and the enemy of God. In that case, how could God possibly let you off?
—The Word, Vol. 1. The Appearance and Work of God. All People Who Do Not Know God Are People Who Oppose God
As long as you have a shred of hope, now, then whether or not God remembers past events, what mentality should you maintain? “I must seek a change in my disposition, seek to know God, never again be fooled by Satan, and never again do anything that would bring shame to God’s name.” What key areas determine whether people can be saved and whether they have any hope? The crux of the matter is, after listening to a sermon, whether or not you can understand the truth, whether or not you can put the truth into practice, and whether or not you can change. These are the key areas. If you only feel remorse, and when you do things you just do whatever you want, in the same old ways, not only not seeking the truth, still clinging to old views and old practices, and not only being utterly without understanding, but instead getting worse and worse, then you will be without hope, and should be written off. The more you understand God, the more you understand yourself and the more thorough an understanding you have of your own nature, the more you will be able to master yourself. After you have summed up your experience, you will never again fail in this matter. In actual fact, everyone has blemishes, it is just that they are not held accountable. Everyone has them—some have small ones, and some have large ones; some speak plainly, and some are secretive. Some people do things that others know about, while some people do things without others knowing about it. There are blemishes on everyone, and they all reveal certain corrupt dispositions, like arrogance or self-righteousness; or else they make some transgressions, or some mistakes or errors in their work, or they are slightly rebellious. These are all pardonable things, as they are things that no corrupted person can avoid. However, once you have understood the truth, you should avoid them, and it will then no longer be necessary to always be troubled by things that happened in the past. Instead, the fear is that you will still not change even after having understood, that you will continue to do things even when you know they are wrong, and that you will continue to act a certain way even after being told that it is wrong. Such people are beyond redemption.
—“To Serve God One Should Walk the Path of Peter” in Records of Christ’s Talks
We should resolve that no matter how serious our circumstances, no matter what kind of hardship befalls us, no matter how weak we are, or how negative, we must not lose faith in dispositional change, nor in the words spoken by God. God gave man a promise, and man must have the resolve and perseverance to receive this promise. God does not like cowards, God likes people with resolve. You may have revealed much corruption, you may have taken many a crooked path, or committed many a transgression, or previously defied God; alternatively, there may be blasphemy, or grumblings, or defiance toward God in some people’s hearts—but God does not look at these things, God only looks at whether someday they will change. In the Bible, there is a story about the return of the prodigal son. Why did the Lord Jesus tell such a parable? God’s will to save mankind is sincere. He gives people opportunities to repent and opportunities to change. During this process, He understands people and has a profound knowledge of their weaknesses and the extent of their corruption. He knows that they will stumble and fail. It is like when children learn to walk: No matter how strong your body, there will be times when you stumble, and times when you are tripped up. God understands each person as a mother understands her child. He understands each person’s difficulties, He understands each person’s weaknesses, and He understands, too, each person’s needs; He understands, moreover, what problems people will encounter in the process of entering dispositional change, what kinds of weaknesses they will suffer from, what kinds of failures will occur—there is nothing God understands better. Thus does God scrutinize the innermost heart of man. No matter how weak you are, as long as you do not forsake God’s name, as long as you do not leave God, and do not stray from this way, then you will always have the opportunity to achieve dispositional change. Our having the opportunity to achieve a change in our disposition means that we have hope of remaining, and our having hope of remaining means we have hope of God’s salvation.
—“What Changes in Disposition Are, and the Path to Changes in Disposition” in Records of Christ’s Talks
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Bible Verses for Reference: “And also I have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it...
